Popular To Invisible
by KR Blake
Summary: Ally is the popular girl at Anubis Bording School, while Austin is the Unnecessary loser. What will happen to Ally's perfect little dictatorship-with she as the dictator-when her path crosses with that of the resident Nerd of Anubis? Ally POV. I don't own Austin & Ally, nor do I own the cover art, which is the cover for Halo by Alexandra Adornetto.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: Alarms & Annoyances

* * *

_*Beep*Beep*Beep*_

I peeled my eyes open and slammed on the snooze button. I hate alarm clocks. They're like little bits of hell powered by batteries.

I stood and stretched. I walked into the bathroom and washed my face with a bar of dove soap. Next, I brushed my hair and carefully applied a natural-looking layer of concealer and eye shadow. Gotta look my best for school!

I moved back into my dorm and pulled on my Academy uniform; a plain navy blue skirt just above the knee, and a plain white collared shirt underneath a navy blue cardigan.

I regarded myself in the mirror. I looked hot as always, with my mahogany hair and chocolate colored eyes. I heaved a sigh and turned away from my reflection. I grabbed my TNA tote from the floor at the foot of my bed and walked briskly out of my dorm room.

I discretely pulled out my iPhone and checked my messages. Five from Jenna, two from Dallas.

Jenna:

_Where r u, gurl?_

_Im getting wrried!_

_Do u have Vampr Diries box set?_

_Wat abt Greys Anatmy?_

_We have, like, 2 mins 2 get 2 Truant's calss! U no she hates it wen we r lat!_

Of course. Jenna may be a stereotypical popular girl, but she hates being late. Her grades suck, but her attendance record is spotless.

Dallas:

_I luv u, grl! Go out w/ me?_

_Nev mind! I'm goin out w/ Jess in sted!_

Of course. Dallas had been in love with me for the past year, though I know he'd never actually tell me. He just asks me out every time he doesn't have a girl to mack on. I guess Jess is his latest victim. Dallas is a pig. I hate him. I don't even know how he got my phone number. It may have been Bree; she's convinced he and I are soul mates. I know for a fact we aren't. I absolutely hate him, but every time I tell her that, she just says that's all the more reason to love him; hate turns to love. She's convinced we'll end up like her romance shows and live happily ever after. As if.

My happily ever after is nowhere in this stupid ass city. It'll be in New York, at Juilliard. Maybe I'll find my true love somewhere else, but for now, I'm stuck at sixteen and in Anubis. He'd be tall, strong, handsome, sex-

**_CRASH! _**

I was snapped out of my reverie when I crashed into a solid object in front of me. I fell back and landed on the carpeted halls of Anchor's Academy. Also known as Anubis, Hex Hall, Hogwarts, or Witchhaven to its wide variety of students.

I felt my hands burn from rubbing against the rug as I tried in vain to catch myself. I rolled my head in, as I learned to in gym class, and let my back take the worst of the blows.

"Ah, dammit!" I said loudly. I sat up and looked at what I had knocked into. A boy knelt on the carpeting in front of me, brushing lint off his book bag.

He was an okay looking guy, for a nerd. Tall, sandy blonde hair, Complete Works of Phineas Fletcher tucked under his arm and big black nerd glasses. And how do I know he's a nerd? He's my only competition for top of our grade ten class. _Way_ lower on the social ladder than I. Who am I kidding? I _own_ that social ladder! "Watch it, Nerd!" I yelled indignantly at Austin Moon, the nerd in question. I rubbed my forehead.

"FYI Pretty Girl, you didn't _have_ to ram into me!" he said, his voice full of acid. Ouch! Surprising from a nerd.

"I am SO not a pretty girl!" I argued.

"Whatever Pretty Girl." he grumbled. He stood and turned away. He began walking away. I stood and jogged after him.

"Hey!" I called after him. "I am _not_ a pretty girl!"

"Says the girl carrying a TNA tote and sporting a red forehead." he said sarcastically over his shoulder.

"y'know, the polite thing to do when you ram someone is to apologize." I said. He stopped dead and turned on a heel.

"_Polite?_" he said. "Just yesterday, your '_bestie_' Dallas gave me a swirly for five minutes straight. I think we are past politeness."

"Dallas is not my _'bestie'_." I said. He gave me an icy look and turned back the way he was going.

"Nerd." I said. He stopped dead again, this time making me bump into him. He turned, grabbed me by the shoulders, and planted his lips on mine. I was shocked into paralysis. I mean, it's not like I'd never kissed a guy before, but from him, it stunned me.

I think what stunned me the most was that he was actually _good_ at it. I moaned against his lips and leaned into it. His hands went into my hair and tousled it a bit. I rubbed my hands along his surprisingly muscular arms. They next went to his stomach and travelled underneath his plain white dress shirt. They found toned, washboard abs. Okay, _when_ did he get so ripped? His hands went down from my hair, and down to my hips and waist. He nibbled my bottom lip, then moved his lips to my neck and jaw line. Finally, they found their way back to my lips.

He let up and held my face for a minute, just staring down at me. I never noticed how big and brown his eyes were. I'd never actually looked at them closely. I guess I was too busy being repulsed by his social awkwardness.

"Pretty Girl." he muttered. And with that, he turned and was gone down the street, leaving me there, muddling in my thoughts. I stared after him and, just for a second, admired his figure. His voice echoed in my mind. Pretty girl…Pretty Girl…Pretty Girl.

* * *

**So there. Chapter one. Note: this is not a crossover between House of Anubis and A&A, I just thought that sounded cool as a bording school name. Thanks for reading and please review! I know, it's a little confusing right now, but it'll make so much more sense as the story progresses!**

**-KR Blake** **Ω**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: Conifers & Crazy Nerd Powers

* * *

I sprinted into 208 just as the final bell rang. I took my usual seat at the back of the room beside Jenna and sighed in relief. I noticed Truant giving me the dirtiest of looks and sank down in my seat. I listened to the announcements and tuned out the students around me. A piece of paper flew into my open binder. I opened it and read.

_'Ally, where WERE you? Truant is giving you The Look'_. Jenna. I glanced up to see Truant indeed giving me The Look. Her signature Look she only gives to kids she hates. I am, unfortunately, one of those kids ever since Bree convinced me to pick the lock on her office door and took the screws out of her spinney chair.

I contemplated telling Jenna what happened with Austin, but I quickly shooed that from my mind when the kiss came to mind.

_'Overslept. Tnx for waiting, btw'_. I scribbled on the back of the paper and tossed it back to Jenna.

The announcements ended and Truant started the English lesson.

"Okay, first, I'll hand back your ten page essays on Twelfth Night." she moved along the rows and passed out the essays.

She placed mine face down on my desk and moved on without another Look. I turned the corner over and read my grade in thick red sharpie. 100.

"What'd you get?" Jenna whispered to me across the row.

"Oh, uh, 67. The usual." I lied. I know I should be boasting about a perfect grade on one of _Truant's_ essays, but I couldn't let it get out that I'm a nerd. I didn't want to end up like Austin. "You?"

"53. Pass!" she said the last part excitedly for some reason. I think I would _die_ if ever got anything less than a 70.

I nodded encouragingly and turned back to Truant's lesson on the Journey of a Hero. I couldn't focus on her, though. Austin kept slipping into my thoughts. _Ugh!_ I definitely won't be making that a habit!

* * *

At the end of the class, I walked from the room without waiting for Jenna to go to math. I sat down at the front this time, trying to avoid Bree, Dallas, Jess, or even Jenna. And I'd known Jenna since we were three and she shoved sand in my ear. I didn't think I could take much more of Austin's lips slipping into my thoughts. Dammit! I said I wouldn't be making a habit of it!

* * *

I suffered through the rest of the day, especially lunch, barely speaking. I ignored Dallas as he recounted his tales of beating up nerds before school in the Unmarked Hallway. Thrice Jenna asked me what's wrong since I was usually quite loquacious. My words, not hers.

* * *

At the end of the day, I walked into world history in a huff. World history is the only class I have with Austin, and the entire class I could feel his eyes burning into the back of my head. In the middle of class, Jack passed me a note addressed from Austin that said:

"_Pretty Girl, meet me in the forest at 2:25 exactly -Nerd._"

I tucked the note into my pocket and continued on only half listening to the teacher.

* * *

At 2:20, the final bell rang and I grabbed my tote from under my desk and practically ran from the classroom. On my way to the back exit that leads to the forest surrounding Anubis, Jenna intercepted me and linked her arm in mine.

"What is wrong with you today, als?" she asked.

"What do you mean? I'm awesome today. As always." I flashed a smile and slipped my arm from hers. "I gotta go! Truant will kill me if I get another 67 on the next essay!" I called over my shoulder and ran to the door that leads to the back of the school. I felt bad for lying, but if word got out I was meeting a nerd, we'd both be ostracized until we die. Not on my To Do List.

I pushed open the door that lead to the forest and breathed in the thick scent of the conifers. The Academy was in upstate New York, where the thick forests of pines were. It was a secluded school half a country away from my home in Miami, where I got to visit my brother and Her only a few times a year when school was out.

I moved through the pines with ease, moving from memory. Students weren't supposed to go into the forest, but no one listened to that rule. Truant was the only teacher that actually enforced it. I finally stopped in the clearing where most of the school hangs out. It's the largest and closest to the school, with a ready fire pit, stash of Richard's Red beers in a knot in a tree, and fallen logs for sitting.

Someone bumped my shoulder from behind as they passed. I jolted forward and turned to the ass wipe that bumped me. Austin walked briskly in front of me and faced me.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded as soon as he faced me.

"It's called a bump. Some people take it as a hint." he said coldly. "You should be one of those people."

"you know what I mean!" I smacked him on the arm. "What the hell was with this morning? We've known each other for six years and you ignore me, and all of a sudden you-you do _THAT!_ What the hell!" my voice raised a few decibels.

"Ignore you? You've been nothing but a complete bitch to me since day one when I came to the Academy wearing glasses!"

"That gives you no right to kiss me like that!" I yelled.

"I was your first, was I? Don't you populars do that all the time at your wild college level parties?" he said sarcastically. He was like no nerd I'd ever had the displeasure of knowing.

"Did you just call me a slut?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No, actually. See, if you had been listening instead of being fascinated by my devilishly good looks, you would have figured out that I called your whole race a race of sluts." he smiled.

"My _race?_" I stood taller. "Whatever. What did you want?"

His lips quirked up in the corner a bit. "Straight to the point. Look, have you told anyone about this morning?"

"No. And I don't plan to." I said decidedly.

"Good. Keep it that way, deal?"

"Why do you even care? Nerds like you would die to be able to tell their friends they kissed me. That is, if you actually had friends." I spat.

That did it. I could see it in his eyes. His temper broke right then.

He grabbed me by the waist and kissed me again. This one was more harsh and passionate than the one this morning. I fell back a bit, and Austin moved me back until I was pressed up a conifer. My hands moved all over his torso, feeling his muscles underneath his thin dress shirt and cardigan. His hands messed through my hair and threw it out of the loose braid I had put it in during Phys Ed. I moaned a bit against him and pressed myself up against his body. I felt pine needles shower into my hair from where we were bumping the tree.

I hoisted myself up a bit and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck.

After a minute or two like that, I came back to my senses and realized I was making out with a NERD. I stopped myself and pushed up. I looked at him annoyed again.

"See, _this_ is what I mean. What the hell, Nerd?" I reluctantly pulled away a bit, but his surprisingly strong arms stopped me. He pulled me into his lips again.

This time, I pushed my arms under his cardigan and threw it off him, away to god know where. His arms slinked around my albeit thin waist and he shoved his hands into my cardigan pockets.

"Okay, no!" I pushed him off me and away. "You keep doing this…this thing with your crazy nerd powers to make me for some reason want to kiss you!"

"Right, because your ungodly popular magic doesn't do the same thing!" he retorted.

"My _ungodly popular magic?_ What is it with you!" I demanded.

"Like you didn't like that!" he said sarcastically. His sarcasm was actually cute, sort of.

"Like it? Those were the best damn kisses in my goddamn life!" I screamed.

"Then what is your problem!" he screamed louder.

"_YOU! YOU ARE MY PROBLEM! YOU COME IN HERE WITH YOUR CHARM AND SARCASM AND THEN DO THAT! NERDS DON'T DO THAT!_" I screamed even louder.

"_MAYBE I DON'T FEEL LIKE BEING A NERD ANYMORE! MAYBE I FELT LIKE DOING IT! MAYBE I WANTED THAT AS WELL!_" he screamed just as loudly.

I grabbed the collar of his dress shirt and jumped on him. I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him harshly. He was caught off guard and fell down with me still on him. He landed on his back and wrapped his arms around me.

I noticed how our bodies seemed to be tailored perfectly together.

He pulled up and regarded me coldly. "Pretty Girl wants what she wants?" his lips quirked.

"Why do you always call me _'Pretty Girl'_?" I pushed out from under him.

"Because you are. You get everything you want whenever you want it." he sat up.

"I do not!" I said indignantly.

"You don't see it? Everything is just handed to you! You even remotely ask for something and ten different people bend over backwards to be the one to get it for you!" he said.

"They do not! Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about!" I insisted.

"Can you spell denial?" he taunted.

"D-E-N-I-A-L. Denial. Shut it." I spat.

I stood and grabbed my tote from where I had fallen on the ground. I started walking away angrily.

"Your life isn't real!" Austin called behind me. "Why can't you just admit it!"

I flipped him the bird without turning around.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder harshly and spin me around.

"Admit it. You know it. You don't like this life of yours."

"I like my life just fine!" I tried turning away, but Austin's hand stopped me.

"But what about loving it?"

"Why do you care? It's my life I'm living, not yours!" I screamed.

"Because I see you every day and you die a little more every time I see you! You hate your life!" he shouted back.

"So what? _Why_ do you care?" I threw my arms up in exasperation.

He grabbed my shoulders and I immediately knew what was coming. He kissed me deeply once more. His arms went around me, encasing me in an envelope of strength. I put my hands on his stomach, ready to push him off, but I didn't. I titled my head down and stood there, frozen, just like this morning.

"I don't want to see another girl die right in front of me." he murmured quietly. I wondered what that meant for a second.

He let out a sigh and kissed my forehead. He unwrapped himself from me and walked away with his hands shoved deep inside his pocket. Austin Moon was a mystery. A Nerd, yes. But definitely a mystery.

* * *

**Ah, mysteries. They make life MUCH more interesting. At least, they make ALLY'S life more interesting. Tell me what you think of this, or so help me god, I will use my Crazy Nerd Powers on you! And to those of you who reviewed saying it didn't make sense why he kissed her, just trust me. I know how this will play out, and by all means, that kiss was necessary.**

**-KR Blake** **Ω**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three: Histories & Hardships

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**Wow. I got an AMAZING response for the first two chapters. I don't check my e-mails for three days amd I have 31 notices piled up! This is...kind of surreal, actually. Thank you to all of you. It's awesome. And to Anna (an anonymous reviewer): They just made out in a forest. They weren't even dating. Is that not mature? Anyways, thank you guys so much!**

* * *

I rushed down the halls silently, praying not to meet Jenna or Bree or dallas or anyone. I slipped up the spiral staircase and down the hall assigned to grade ten girls. That was the hard part. But luckily, I managed to slip into my room unnoticed.

It's not that I wasn't allowed to wander around Anubis, at least, not until eight, but with my head reeling from what that nerd had said, I just couldn't deal with any crap from anyone at the moment.

I locked my dorm door behind me and flopped down on my bed in a huff. I could still feel the pressure of Nerd's lips on mine, even after I had scrubbed them so thoroughly in the bathroom. I ran my hands through my hair and sat up. I walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out the pair of faded jeans, plain gray v-neck and jewel blue hoodie I kept reserved for when I was upset. I slipped on the comfortable clothes and picked up my book bag from inside the wardrobe. I slung it over my shoulder and slipped soundlessly out into the hall with my hood pulled over my face.

I made my way down the halls and up to the highest level of the school: level five. I knew exactly where I was going, moving silently and sure footedly. Finally, I made it to my refuge; a small, unused classroom with a wall of windows, one pane missing. I shut the door behind me and shed my hoodie gratefully. I walked to the window and out the missing pane hole, and sat on the balcony. Five stories up, I could see the entire forest beneath. It was absolutely breathtaking. Lush green forests as far as my eyes could reach, crystalline lakes peeking through the trees, and a beautiful blue sky that reminded me of Miami.

I leaned against the glass and let myself think back to Miami, to Tom and Sarah, to everything I'd been missing for the six years I'd been coming to Anubis since I first got my scholarship. I missed Florida insanely, but I couldn't pass up an education from the best school in the country. I missed Tom the most, though. He'd been my dad for the last seven years since…

I wiped a tear away as I thought about the car crash that had killed both my parents and Tom's dreams of being a famous guitarist in one night. I was nine, Tom was eighteen. He had to legally adopt me so we wouldn't be separated. We were all we had left of our family. But Tom had to give up his dreams. He wanted to be the best guitarist in the world, and he was well on his way. He was a guitar prodigy, and played in a band with his friends, Star UFO. They sounded amazing. In fact, when mom and dad died, they were only two weeks away from going to California to headline for the OC Fair.

I wiped more tears away as they free fell from my eyes and thanked god I was here in my refuge. I found this old classroom when I was twelve and needed a new place to cry in peace on my parents' anniversary. But somehow it became the place I went to whenever I just needed to get away from Anubis. I was never _'Ally, the popular girl'_ here. I was always _'Ally'_. Just Ally.

I wiped one last tear from my cheek and pulled out my songbook from my book bag. I took the pen that was always stationed in my pocket and began writing.

-_but you didn't have to cut me off_

-_no you didn't have to stoop so low_

-_now you're just somebody that I used to know _**[1]**

I wrote down those lyrics and tried to make sense of them. I tried to work them into a new song, it wasn't happening. I love writing songs. I love music in general. Like I could ever tell anyone that.

And just like that, Nerd slipped into my mind. Instead of normally shooing the thoughts away with a shake of the head, I let them thrive, to see where they went. His lips came to mind, and his muscles. My hands itched to feel those abs again, but I ignored that and focused on the thoughts. And all of a sudden, I stopped focusing on the kisses, and my mind went to what he had said. Did I really die a little more every time he saw me? And what had meant when he said he didn't want to see another girl die? He was certainly a mystery.

And just like that, it was like gates had been opened in my mind and let creativity flood in. Lyrics rushed into my mind so fast I nearly dropped my songbook.

-_flip a switch_

-_turn on the lightning_

-_Get it right,_

-_show 'em how it's done._

-_Freak it up,_

-_no matter how you dress that song._

-_Girl you know,_

-_you got a number one._

-_Go with it,_

-_you got 'em where you want 'em._

-_Drop the beat,_

-_they need to hear your sound._

-_Play it up,_

-_it's coming down to you right now._

-_They wanna know, know, know,_

-_Your name, name, name._

-_They want the girl, girl, girl,_

-_with game, game, game._

-_And they when they look, look, look,_

-_Your way, way, way._

-_You gotta make (make) make (make)_

-_Make 'em do a double take._

-_Make 'em do a double take! _**[2]**

Dear diary, 12 may

I did it! I finally finished the lyrics for that song I've been looking for! Now it's just a simple matter of sneaking into the music room after curfew tomorrow to work out the music.

On a more depressing note, I met my first mystery man today. Austin Moon, resident Nerd of Anubis. He called me Pretty Girl. Am I a pretty girl? I didn't like how he seemed so sure of whom I am, like he didn't even need me to introduce myself. Well, I certainly won't be making a habit of talking to him.

Got a perfect score on Truant's essay. I think she's starting to warm up to me again for the first time since eighth grade! I hate it when people are cross with me…

I set down my pen and book and stared out at the forest surrounding Anubis.

* * *

Sometime later, my eyes had slid shut and I lulled into a soft sleep, dreaming of my childhood, when my parents were alive and I was the happiest person in the world. I was only woken by the loud chiming of the curfew bell, signaling that it was now eight o'clock and I was officially in deep shit.

My eyes flung open and I shoved my pens and book into my book bag. I shimmied into my hoodie, pulled up the hood and raced out of my classroom.

_CRAP!_

Thankfully, I was barefoot, which meant I made a minimal amount of noise while I sprinted to my room. I was doing amazingly well, managing to slink past teachers patrolling, not being seen once—that is, until I crashed into a solid object for the second time that day. I fell back onto the ground and heard a familiar girl's indignant voice yell, "_HEY!_"

I didn't stop to apologize to Bree. I just scrambled up and held my hoodie firmly over my face as I ran away.

"Loser!" she called after me. _Oh, if only she knew who she was talking to,_ I mused. But she didn't, so I was safe. I rounded corners like a boss and sprinted into my dorm at the end of the hall, shutting my door just as Truant was coming around the bend. Aw, yeah!

I flopped down on my bed and thanked Anubis I hadn't been seen. I took a deep breath and lay back on my soft bed. _'Homework,'_ I thought to myself. _'Time for homework.'_

* * *

**A/Ns:  
[1]: These lyrics are from "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye.  
[2]: "Double Take" from A&A. But you guys already knew that. I just have to give credit, otherwise it'd be plagarism, which is illegal, as well as immoral.**

**So that's what's up with Ally. Why she is the way she is. A little depressing, yeah, but that's her life. **

**DisneychannelwatcherWow: _please_ explain what you meant! I'm drawing a blank here!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four: Pigs & Potassium

* * *

I had fallen asleep around ten, after zipping easily through my trig identities **(these suck)** homework and improvising a concluding paragraph for my next English essay; what makes a hero?

I woke up on Friday, bright and early this time. I looked at my alarm clock. It read 6:30 in glowing red block numbers. I had an hour and a half before chemistry first period. I sat up and looked around bleary eyed at my dorm. Its standard painter's beige walls were decorated with pictures of Tom and Sarah and family pictures of our old family vacations when mom and dad were still alive and we went to the Miami coast during the summer. I focused on the one taped onto the ceiling directly above me. It was from the summer when I was six. Tom was there with me, sixteen at the time. I was smiling uncontrollably with my sun burned skin and peeling, freckled nose. Tom was picking me up from the ground by the waist and hoisting me over his broad shoulder.

I smiled at the picture and ran a hand through my hair. I stood and moved about the dorm, getting ready. It doesn't actually take me long to get ready for school, contrary to the popular opinion. I went into the small bathroom branching off my dorm room. I washed my face, brushed through my hair, and applied a thin shade of makeup to my eyelids. I then moved out into the dorm and to the wardrobe. I pulled out a fresh uniform. I accidentally brushed against my old, loose fitting clothes I had worn yesterday, and every time I'd gone to my classroom.

I tucked the tattered clothes into the back of the wardrobe, underneath a pile of belts, and shut the wardrobe doors.

I slipped into my uniform and sat down on my bed. I was already ready, and it was only 6:45. New high score.

I opened up my laptop and logged on to the school's closed circuit IM system. I noticed I had a new IM from a user I didn't recognize.

**SpinnMaster:** Meet me tomorrow night at eleven in the forest. You know where.

I could guess who it was from, and sent a reply IM.

**AwesomeDawson:** why should I?

My laptop beeped with a reply. I hadn't expected him to reply.

**SpinnMaster:** we need to talk.

**AwesomeDawson:** ohh, mysterious! And who says I have the time to come?

**SpinnMaster:** what else would you be doing on a Saturday night?

**AwesomeDawson:** well, you know. We populars have a very busy schedule consisting of drinking and getting laid at the college.

**SpinnMaster:** haha. I stand by what I said. So will you come?

**AwesomeDawson:** I don't have a choice, do I?

**SpinnMaster:** not a one. See you in history.

**AwesomeDawson:** I'll be the one straddling anything that moves.

I logged off my account and shut the laptop. My alarm clock then read 7 am. I sighed and looked out the window on the west wall. The sun had risen a great deal in the sky, illuminating the forest around Anubis. I stood from the desk and grabbed my TNA tote. No sense in waiting around for an hour. I walked out of my room, room 216, and locked the door behind me.

I walked down the hall to room 204 and knocked loudly. I heard rustling from inside and a sleep gruntled Jenna opened the door to me.

"Sup, Dawson." she mumbled and moved away for me to enter.

Bree already sat on Jenna's bed, painting her toenails.

"Hey, Ally." Bree didn't bother to look up.

"What're you guys talking about?" I set down my tote and sat on Jenna's desk chair.

"This nerd that crashed into me last night. We're trying to figure out who it is." Bree answered.

"Who are the suspects?" I kept my cool.

"I think it's a new niner." Jenna said. "y'know, one of the new ones visiting for a weekend and coming next year."

"No, no, I told you!" Bree argued. "The Unnecessary knew where they were going. They'd been down the halls before!"

"Did you see their face?" I asked.

"Nope. I just saw a bit of their hair. Dark brown. Kind of familiar, actually." I felt my pulse quicken subtly. I'd die—literally—if they found out about the classroom.

"Which way did they go?" I asked.

"Towards hurtsville for crashing into me. But they were going towards the…third floor, I think." I let out a silent breath.

"So it's a grade eleven." Jenna decided. She stood and shed her pajama shirt right in front of us, not caring if we were watching or not. That's the good thing about the three of us, we're so comfortable around each other after five years, we really don't care what each of us sees. Except my dorm. No one's allowed in there.

I picked up the bottle of nail polish Bree had finished using and read the label aloud. "_Buffy The Violet Slayer_? **[1]** Really, Geotz, really?" I raised my eyebrows at Bree, who just smiled innocently.

"Yes, _really_. It was either this or _'Chuck Norris maroon'_ **[2] **and I _so_ don't do browns." she shook her head.

I laughed inwardly at her shallowness at set the nail polish down. I looked around Jenna's familiar room; the three of us had spent half our nights at Anubis camped out in there, boycotting homework and trashing newbies. Every year Anubis got a new shipment of students ranging from grades three to twelve, and every year they got more and more ridiculous to be around. One minor niner had half her head shaved and the other half dyed jet black. It's like they _want_ to get hit in the face with dodge balls.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Bree asked.

"I have after school math help with Gyan until four, and then I'm free meat." Jenna said.

"Fabulous. Dallas invited us to the clearing." Bree said and glanced sideways at me. I rolled my eyes and scoffed at the brunette.

"Can't come tonight." I said. "Skyping with my parents." okay, so no one at Anubis knew that my parents were dead. And I liked it that way. There were no questions, no sympathetic rubs on the back, no merry talks of families quickly dying out when they realize I'm listening. When I came to Anubis, it was like God gave me a fresh start away from the life that reminded me of the parents that were ripped away from me every freaking day.

"You can never come, Ally!" Bree complained. "If you don't act soon, Dallas will be gone forever, and then poof! You're a crazy old maid with fifty seven tabbies!"

"And I'll love each one more than Dallas could ever love even himself." I retorted. Now it was Bree's turn to roll her eyes at me.

"I'm just saying, you couldn't get a hotter b.f. than Dallas White." Bree reasoned. I silently disagreed. I could name a certain blonde haired boy with a mysterious streak that was _much_ hotter than Dallas White. But I won't name any names.

"And I'm just saying, if I wanted to date a pig, I'd date Professor Oinkers."

"Hey, don't you bring Professor Oinkers into this!" Jenna said indignantly from her position at the other side of the room. Yeah, Jenna has a pet pig. I've seen pictures. He's absolutely adorable.

Bree threw her head back and laughed. I'll admit I cracked up a bit as well.

We continued on like that for the next fifty minutes until Jenna had fully readied herself and we had to go to class. Fridays, I had chemistry first period, while Jenna and Bree had Phys Ed. I'd be all alone in a class of thirty kids, and sitting next to (unfortunately) Dallas White.

I walked through the door and sat down at the table just as the bell rang. The teacher, Mr. Minthe, started up the lesson on the history of potassium. Fifteen minutes into the class, Dallas strutted into the classroom and sat down beside me. Minthe didn't even bat a lash at Dallas's lateness. The pig was late every freaking second day, when we had chemistry first.

"Miss me?" he purred in my ear. I started back at his sudden close-slash-creepy ness.

"Not even a little bit." I shot back icily and focused in on the middle aged man at the front of the room talking about Justice using electrolysis on potassium for the first time ever. **[3]**

"Come on, als. You know you want me." I turned to him and raised my eyebrows. He licked his lips sensually at me.

Oh.

My.

_God._

Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

**A/Ns:  
[1] and [2]: These are actual nail polish colors. Buffy The Violet Slayer is a really shiny, nice violet color. I don't know what Chuck Norris Maroon looks like, but I bet it's awesome.  
[3]: This is an actual fact. I had a chemisrty project to do a while back on Potassium, and I learned that Justice was the first scientist to use electrolysis to separate an element.**

**Thanks for reading! Hope you liked! Please review. Also, I just figured out how to see how many people look at my stories (don't judge me, I'm not tech savvy), and wow! Popular To Invisible is almost at 1,000, and Beautiful is at, like, 6,500! That is Legen-wait for it-dary! Thank you guys so much, and please keep reading!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: Songs & Salem Witches

* * *

During lunch, Jenna, Bree, Dallas, Jack and I we're sitting on one of the ledges of the windows in the Unmarked Hallway. That's this hallway at the back of the school, out of the way from the teacher's patrol. It was sort of the only place Anubis students could go for peace and quiet. That is, until one Austin Moon strolled around the corner.

Dallas, Jack, and Bree's faces immediately curled into devious smiles. Austin whistled down the corridor, walking parallel to us. When he passed us, Bree stuck out her foot and tripped him. The books that had been clutched against his chest skittered across the carpet out of his reach. He fell to the ground in a crash and cussed loudly. He pushed up a bit and went for his books, but Dallas and Jack kicked them out of the way, sniggering.

"Get out of here, Unnecessary." Jenna spat.

Austin finally retrieved his books from the floor and stood. He regarded each of us separately, each with more ice than the last. His big doe brown eyes landed on me last.

"Screw you, assholes." he growled at us. He said it to the group, but for some reason, I felt like he was speaking to me directly.

Austin stormed down the hallway and around the other bend.

"Loser." Bree said once he stepped out of sight. The five of us laughed, but for some reason, my laughs felt empty to me.

"You ever wonder what the Unnecessaries do in their free time?" Jack said.

"Probably reproduce algae in their nerd lairs at the back of the library." Jenna said. She was sitting beside Jack, and leaned back against him. They had been pretty much dating for the past month, make out sessions and all, but neglected to admit it.

"Or have intense scrabble tournaments and compete for the Nerd Olympics Cup." I pipped in. The other four laughed, but I stayed quiet. For some reason, torturing Unnecessaries didn't give me the kick it used to.

Ω

I was right when I said it was a long day. No one left me alone! During world history, Austin's eyes bored into the back of my head for the second day in a row. In Phys Ed, other girls mimicked the way I moved and the way I wore my baggy gym clothes. In English, Truant gave me exactly three Looks and one yellow warning card.

The end of the day could not have come sooner. I managed to slip away from Bree and Jenna, and made my way back to my dorm. I sat down on my bed and relished the peace and quiet. Until my laptop bleeped with a new IM message.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I stood, opened up my laptop, and signed into the IM circuit.

**SpinnMaster:** Unnecessary?

**AwesomeDawson:** you've never heard that nickname?

**SpinnMaster:** tbh, no. I don't pay much attention to Populars.

**AwesomeDawson:** yet you somehow managed to get hold of my IM and continually message me.

**SpinnMaster:** you act like you're completely off the grid. Half the "Unnecessaries" have your IM.

**AwesomeDawson:** Whatever, Spin Master. What do you want?

**SpinnMaster:** 1) it's SPINN Master, double N 2) my name is Austin, not an annoying variation of my DJ name 3) don't you give me any lip, Allyson Dawson 4) I wanted to make sure you're coming tomorrow.

**AwesomeDawson:** 1) how do you know my full name? 2) yes, I'm still coming tomorrow 3) you didn't object to my lips yesterday.

**SpinnMaster:** I know your full name because I am a genius. I only had to take a shot at your full name; you told me I was right. And I believe I objected to ONE lip, singular. Plural lips are a different story ;)

**AwesomeDawson:** of course they are. I'm hot as the sun.

**SpinnMaster:** if that's what you call it.

**AwesomeDawson:** and what would you call it?

**SpinnMaster:** beautiful.

I shut my laptop quickly at that. A _Nerd_ had just called me beautiful. _Ugh!_ I mean, no one even _says_ beautiful anymore!

I ran another hand through my hand again. That action was turning into a frustrated reflex. I lay down on my bed and studied the countless pictures covering my walls. There were so many of Tom and I when we were younger. My heart tugged with sorrow as I thought about him. He was my one and only brother, completely one of a kind. One of a kind…

Ω

I woke up with a start hours later, curled up in a tight ball. I must have fallen asleep watching the pictures. I looked to what had woke me up; a recording of one of my older songs, telling me it was time to sneak to the music room. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and moved over to my wardrobe. I dug out the loose fitting clothes from under the pile of belt and slipped them on. They felt warm and comfortable, much more comfortable than the uniform I had fallen asleep in. I picked up my songbook, slipped it under my sweater for safe keeping, and slinked out the door.

I made my way down the eerily quiet corridors of Anubis After Dark. The shadows used to scare me when I first came to Anubis, but now they just seemed part of the school vibe. I walked in and out of the shadows with ease, making my way slowly to the music room. It was a room I visited often after curfew. See, you know I love music. I write songs, and after dark, I record them using the instruments and acoustics of the music room on the other side of the enormous school.

I finally found the large doors leading to the music room. I pushed them open and walked in. It was completely dark, making the various instruments only shadows of a labyrinth in the room. Thankfully, I knew exactly where I was going, and skirted through the room to the baby grand piano in the center of the large room. I sat down, set my fingers on the keys, and winged the music. An A there, maybe a little C action, that sort of stuff. I had the perfect tune in my head, but it was just a matter of turning that melody into notes. Much easier said than done.

Around midnight, I had worked out the piano notes to the song, _Double Take_. After that, I moved to the acoustic guitars lining the walls, and pulled down my favorite one. It was a simple parchment color with an interesting swirl design on the bottom of the body. I started plucking and tuning the strings of the song on the guitar. It was about two am when it came. A quiet crash, barely audible, outside the music room. I knew it was extremely late, and if anyone caught me, I'd be in deep shit trouble. I froze and crouched down beside the drum set in front of me, still clutching the guitar. The door to the music room opened, and I heard sneakers pad softly into the room. The door closed behind the mystery figure, stopping my only escape plan. The shoes walked slowly around the room until the stopped a few meters away from me, just on the other side of the drums. I could just see a pair of worn black converse high tops through the drums.

"Hello?" a voice whispered. "Who's there?" I knew who it was. Of course. My night just wouldn't be completed without HIM finding me in one of my two only sanctuaries at Anubis!

I considered standing, but I couldn't. What if he told everyone I was in here, like a little Unnecessary, all by myself and lonesome? And no one, not even Unnecessaries, likes Unnecessaires. It's a proven scientific fact. I think.

Austin walked three sixty around the room, but thankfully didn't see me hiding in the corner between the drums and an electric on its stand.

He stopped at the piano and riffled through something. I couldn't see what through the dark light, but I just wanted him _out_ of there!

"Is anyone here?" he let out a breath and walked to the door. "That was really amazing." he said and walked out the door.

I waited a few minutes to see if he would come back. He didn't. I stood slowly and delicately put the guitar on its pegs. I'd missed being in there for hours on end, writing music, enjoying being around the instruments. I hadn't been in that room at night for weeks. It had seemed I was creatively bankrupt for those weeks. I'm back. I smiled to myself and walked over to the piano where my book lay. Where it _had _lay.

I searched and searched around the piano for that small, battered leather book. **_IT WASN'T THERE!_** I ran a hand through my hair and considered screaming out in frustration. Yeah. Like _that_ wouldn't get me detention until graduation day.

I decided to go back to my dorm and search for the book tomorrow. I walked absently through the dark corridors. At one point, I walked into a wall and apologized to it before moving on.

I can't remember how I found my way back to my dorm, but I do know how I fell asleep: sprawled out on my back, still in my wrinkled loose clothes.

Ω

I woke the next morning at noon. I blinked in the sunlight pouring through the gap in the curtains. I sat up and looked around. My old clothes hung loose around me, barely showing my bodily features. I fell back on my bed. Saturdays are boring at Anubis. There's nothing to do until the teachers stop patrolling, and even then it's only fun if you know where Dallas hides the beer in the forest.

My laptop bleeped with a new IM.

**JenzaLuvsProfOink:** gurl, wake up all ready! It's noon!

Jenna. I smiled to myself.

**AwesomeDawson:** I'm up already, Jenn! What is it!

**JenzaLuvsProfOink:** well, 4 starters, u missed brekfast. Croissants. And 2nd, Bree got hold of a box of stinkbombs. we r setting them off in Truant's office in 15!

**AwesomeDawson:** sorry, pass. I can't get into any more shit with Truant.

**JenzaLuvsProfOink:** u r NO fun! Latz!

**AwesomeDawson:** later.

I was about to sign off, when another IM box popped up.

**SpinnMaster:** I have something for you.

**AwesomeDawson:** what? Another sarcastic comment?

**SpinnMaster:** no. It's this little book, I think. It has so many little notes and stars on it. Know it?

**_HE HAD MY BOOK!_**

**AwesomeDawson:** idk. I'd have to see it. Eleven?

**SpinnMaster:** you know where.

And the IM box automatically shut itself, signaling that Austin and signed off. I ran another hand through my hair. God, I'm going to have to start wearing a headband or I'd go bald by the time I reached _Her_ age.

That little nerd was evil and he knew it. But I had to play it cool, or I'd never see the book again. I walked over to the dresser and stripped off the old clothes. I tugged on a pair of dark Levi's jeans, a white boatneck t-shirt and a red cardigan.

I sat down at my desk a picked up the soft cover book that was perched precariously on top of a large stack of books. I examined the dark blue color of the cover. "The Great Gatsby" was written across the top in swirly gold lettering.

My tummy rumbled loudly. I realized I hadn't eaten since dinner the night before. I set the book down and slipped out of the dorm and down the halls.

I made my way to the staff hallway on the first floor, to the door leading to the kitchen. I stopped outside the door and steeled my nerves. We'd all snuck into the kitchen at some point over the years, but never alone. Wed always had at least one person on lookout for the school's crazy chef, Slim Danny (who, in truth, wasn't all that slim). I didn't want to bother Jenna and Bree with Dallas, so I settled on sneaking in myself.

I held my breath as I carefully opened the door and slipped in. That's one good thing about being small little Ally, barely five foot seven. I'm small and light, which means I'm agile and I don't make a lot of noise when I move.

I looked around the kitchen. No one. I crept to the cupboard and opened it. It creaked as it moved, making me wince. I glanced around every few seconds to make sure Slim Danny wasn't anywhere around. I grabbed a box of Nutrigrain bars and bolted for the door. I slipped out of the door and shut it behind me, my heart beating in my ears.

Winning!

I had just singlehandedly taken from the kitchen!

I walked gleefully back to my dorm and sat down ok my bed. I popped open the box and munched on a Nutrigrain bar as I surfed the web. An idea came to mind while I was surfing the Internet. I pulled up google and typed in two words: Spinn Master.

A million results popped up. I went to the first one. It was an ad for a freak show talent of spinning plates. I went to the next view and found what I was looking for.

_DJ Spinn Master!_

_Available for bar mitzvahs, weddings, birthday parties, or if you're just plain having a bad day. DJ Spinn Master offers a variety of today's hottest music together in a unique ensemble sure to leave the listeners grasping for more!_

_For more information, call 555-8902!__  
_**(A/N: This is not a real phone number. Just a random string of seven numbers.)**

So that wasn't a lie. Spinn Master really was Austin's DJ name. I don't know why I had to check. I guess I…I wanted to know if he would lie to me at all.

I shook my head. What do I care if a nerd screws himself over by lying? I don't, that's that.

I continued to surf the Internet for the rest of the day, only stopping for dinner: steaks and creepy stares via Dallas White. I told Bree and Jenna about how I snuck into the kitchen alone, and they proclaimed me the queen of awesomeness for pulling it off.

At ten thirty, I pulled on a thick hoddie and slinked down the long hallway. I made my way out the back door and walked freely through the conifers. I could see my breath billowing up in front of me. The cold bit into my exposed skin like little teeny tiny snake bites.

I finally made it to the clearing and looked around—and smiled.

Austin was high up in a tree, leaning against the trunk.

"How's the weather up there?" I called.

"Quite fine. What about down there?" he answered.

I shrugged. "A little cold, but nothing a strong girl like me can't handle." I held up my arms and flexed my biceps. He laughed happily from the tree.

He grabbed the tree branch above him and swung down from the tree. He walked over to me and—I don't know why—wrapped his strong arms around me. I could smell the scents wafting off of his chest: a fresh summer breeze.

He rubbed my arms with his hands, instantly warming me—and sending lightning bolts flying through my stomach, but that's beside the point.

"So why did you want to meet me?" I said.

"I wanted to see if you're okay." he answered.

"I'm awesome. Like you care." I shot.

"Oh, Ally, Ally, Allyson. I do care. I care a lot." he looked down at me through his long lashes.

"But _why_?" I complained, looking anywhere but his doe eyes.

"Because." he said with finality. I felt him kiss the top of my head. Nerds. "Now. Follow me, if you please."

He pulled away, and held his hand out for me. I took it slowly and let him lead me over to the tree he had been in before. He climbed up in front of me and helped me slowly reach the branch in front of him.

He stayed quiet after that, watching the enormous full moon in front of us.

"Witchaven." he murmured.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you know why this school has that nickname?"

"Yeah. The 1692 Salem witch trials. They say the real witches escaped and fled to New York state, and built a house for all twelve of them. The house became Anubis Boarding School."

"Exactly." he said.

"Why?"

"I…I don't know. I've just always loved that old myth about Anubis. It's been one of the only things I like about the school."

We stayed quiet for the next half hour, unmoving. Austin wasn't bad company. He just sat on the branch above me and dangled his leg down.

When my iPhone read 11:37, I figured I'd have to get my book back soon.

"So…this book you found. Can I…can I see it?" I tried to play casual.

I swear I could _hear_ him smirk. He pulled from his pocket my little songwriting book. I reached up and examined the cover. No scratches or cracks. He lives.

"So was I right? Is it yours?" he asked.

"I…yeah." I ducked my head, embarrassed.

"Ah. I read some of it and I was like," he swung down to my branch and smiled maliciously. "_'oh, this is SO Ally Dawson.'_"

"You read my book?" I cocked an eyebrow.

He smiled, innocently this time. "Was I not supposed to? Oh, dear. Now I feel like a perfect arse!"

"You are so dead." I said.

"You'll have to catch me first, won't you?" he swung down off the branches and landed on the ground gracefully.

I tucked my book into the rabbit pouch of my hoodie and followed him. I clambered clumsily down the conifer and chased after him. Around we went, in the clearing, in the trees, just around. And I couldn't have felt freer. It was so natural to be with Austin.

In the end, he looped around behind me and caught me by the waist. He pulled my down to the dirt and held me in a prison of arms while I laughed. I mean, _really_ laughed. Not like I did with the other populars.

Somehow he had positioned himself over me and just stayed there. I stopped giggling and looked up at him. His arms were on either side of my head, blocking any means of escape.

"You have really pretty eyes." he said and leaned down a bit lower.

"And you have really sexy eyes." the words tumbled out of my mouth before I had even thought them. He smiled as my face burned bright crimson. "Shit." I muttered.

"No, it's okay. I relish the compliment." he smiled and leaned down even more. He stopped when his face was right up close to me, his lips a mere centimeter from mine. I could feel his breath tickle my lips, causing butterflies to rampage within me.

"Pretty Girl." he murmured.

"Nerd." I murmured back.

He leaned in millimeters more until his lips _just_ brushed against mine, igniting the flames between us into a full blown inferno.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and didn't move from that position. He just supported himself above me in a push up position with his lips close to mine. I didn't want anything more. Just laying there, his breath tickling my lips, his mere presence sending lightning coursing through me. My heart beat so loudly, I swear Austin heard it. I didn't get why I was so okay with him like that. But I was. I didn't have the slightest urge to move. I just…lay there, getting lost in his big doe brown eyes.

I arched my body up and pressed my torso against his warm body. I think I could feel his heartbeat through his shirt and sweater, as well as mine. He didn't try to kiss me, just held my face in his hands. I felt my face heat. He pressed his forehead against mine, causing me to blush harder.

"Well, it's about time." a voice said beside us. Fuck.

* * *

**Bum Bum Bummm! Someone knows about Austin and Ally! But who? Stay tuned to find out! Wow, that makes it seem like a Soap Opera *looks off screen at nothing in partcular* Thanks for reading, and review pweese! **

**-KR Blake Ω**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six: Promises & Phone Calls

* * *

Recap:

I arched my body up and pressed my torso against his warm body. I think I could feel his heartbeat through his shirt and sweater, as well as mine. He didn't try to kiss me, just held my face in his hands. I felt my face heat. He pressed his forehead against mine, causing me to blush harder.

"Well, it's about time." a voice said beside us. Fuck.

* * *

Our heads whipped to the left to see two people standing beside us, smirking. I knew them, sadly. The first was a girl, short and Latino, with curly brown hair and shining dark eyes. The second was a tall redheaded boy with pale skin and a bucket load of freckles.

The boy had his arm slung around the girl in their usual mannerism. They were in our grade, in our history class as well.

I pushed Austin off me and stood hastily, brushing pine needles off me.

"You shouldn't have scared them, Trish." Dez chided his girlfriend. She just smiled at him and turned back at us expectantly.

I turned away from Austin, Trish and Dez, just about ready to vomit.

"Ally." Austin started. I didn't listen, only shook my head and ran.

I ran through the trees, sort of aimlessly for a second there. I could hear Austin following, but I didn't stop. Trish and Dez had found us. They probably thought we were together, and they'd probably tell everyone. I'd be done, over, a lowly, ostracized loser. Unnecessary.

I somehow made it back into the school and ran through the hallways. By then, tears were burning the backs of my eyes. Crap.

"Ally!" Austin whispered loudly behind me. I didn't turn, and kept going, up the spiral staircase.

I made of to the second level, and down the hallway. I could still hear Austin running behind me, but thankfully, he wasn't running full on, or he'd have already caught me. I stopped at 216, and fumbled with my dorm key. That, sadly, gave Austin enough time to catch up. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I tried to struggle against his brute strength, but it was really no use. I went limp in his grip, letting the tears fall silently.

"Ally, I…" he started, but I just covered his mouth with my hand and slumped down onto the carpet. Austin followed and cradled me in his chest. I think I fell asleep there, too. I'm not sure, but Austin swears I did.

Ω

I awoke the next day to the sunlight seeping through the gap in the curtains. I sat up and looked around. My comforter fell away from me, telling me I was back in my dorm bed. I lay back for a minute and thought, _'Maybe it was just a dream. I didn't really do all that. Austin, Trish, Dez. It was all a dream._

That is, until I spotted the folded square of paper on my bedside table. I knew who it was from. I prayed I was wrong for once, but deep in my mind, I knew I wasn't wrong. I'm never wrong.

I plucked the neatly folded square from the table and examined it, like it was a second away from exploding in my face. For all I knew, it could have exploded. I finally plucked up the courage to read it.

Shakily, I unfolded the paper and read. Just five words and an initial.

_THEY PROMISED NOT TO TELL. -A_

I wasn't wrong. I'm never wrong.

Ω

I decided to get back to business as usual. I dressed as usual, ate in the Great Hall with the other Populars as usual, wreaked havoc on Anubis as usual, denied Dallas as usual. My old life. And it felt totally wrong.

Sundays in May are the days the new students go home to wherever they crawled here from. So Dallas, Jack, Bree, Jenna and I resolved to hang around the main doors and terrorize the newbies. We would trip them, Dallas would throw spitballs, and Bree would give it her all to make them cry. Her efforts were well spent, actually. She made eighty percent of them at least tear up. There was this one adorable grade two, going into grade three next year, with flaming read hair and a gap in his front teeth. I think his name was Nelson. When Dallas shot his spitball, it hit Nelson in the ear, causing him to jerk to the side and drop his books. He was adorable when he dropped them, complaining loudly, _"Aww Narts!"_ I don't know if that's what he thinks is a swear, but it was insanely cute nevertheless.

The day passed relatively quickly, only dragging out near the end, when the five of us, along with a few others, were sitting out in the forest.

Dallas had broken out the beer, and within the hour, his breath reeked of alcohol. Disgusting.

As the sun was just setting over the trees, I sat beside Bree and Jenna, laughing with them. Dallas lumbered over to us, making Bree flash a smile at me.

Dallas slid down beside me and smiled. "hheeyy allllyy." he slurred, prolonging the 'l' in 'Ally'. "youu wannt to—to—to umm…ah…um…ah…" he trailed off, forgetting what he wanted to say. I really wasn't really eager to find out, anyways. He scratched his head and stumbled off somewhere else. I scowled after him and turned my attention back to Jenna's reeling tale of the last time she went home to Chicago.

"…and then daddy took me to this _big_ new mall in downtown, the Marin Center. He let me but anything I wanted! It was totes awesome." she said excitedly. I couldn't help that pang of sadness in me while she spoke about her family. Mine had fallen apart, while hers was happy as ever. I resolved to call Tom later.

"I uh, I gotta go." I said, standing up from the log.

"Later." Jenna didn't look up.

"See ya, Dawson." Bree said, and reengaged Jenna into another conversation about families.

I walked through the forest; hands shoved in my jeans pockets. I walked through the doors to Anubis, up the spiral stairs, and down the Unmarked Hallway. There were two pay phones for us at the end of the hallway.

I took fifty cents out of my pocket, inserted it into the pay phone at the dead end of the hallway, and punched in Tom's number.

It rang for a few seconds, and then cut to the answering machine.

"Hey, Tom. It's Ally. I just called to say hey. Call me when you can. I…I miss you. Bye." I said. I tried to keep the tears in, but the moment I hung up the phone, they spilled out. God, what was _wrong_ with me? Kissing a nerd, getting caught kissing a nerd, and now crying in public.

I leaned against the wall and slid down it, until I was sitting on the floor. I buried my head in my arms and let out a ragged breath.

"Ally?" a voice said. Crap. I lifted my head and looked at Trish, leaning against the wall.

"What." I muttered.

"Why are you crying?" she asked.

"Because I'm sad. People often do that when they're sad." I shot, irritated at the Latino. She shifted her weight and moved to leave. "Wait."

"Yes?" she turned back to me.

"You…you promise you won't tell. About what…you saw in the forest?" I said carefully. I tread carefully on it, in case she had an identical twin who'd seen us instead of her. An unlikely chance, but still a possibility.

"Promise." she held out her pinky to me, which I gratefully took and shook. I smiled halfway at her. She was alright. I had the feeling I could trust her. "So…you and Austin are…"

"Crap." I said to myself, then to her, "he and I are not. So don't go asking any questions."

"Okay, okay." she held up he hands in surrender.

"Good. So what's up?" I asked. Her eyebrows shot up. "What? You do know what that means, right?"

"No, I do. But…one of you has never asked me that." that shocked me.

"Well, come on." I patted the carpet beside me. "There's a first for everything."

Trish smiled and took a seat next to me.

We spent the next hour talking, laughing. She was surprisingly good company. I learned that she and Dez had been dating for three years, since before they both came to Anubis, and attached by the hip since kindergarten in Miami (yeah, they were from Miami as well. Small world). Dez had come two years ago, and Trish only at the start of this school year. She was good at math and science, but her real strong suit was drama. I liked how, like Austin, she actually listened to my answers to her various questions. Where was I from? Did I have any siblings? Did we get along? What was up with me and Austin? (I nearly smacked her for bringing him up). What was my favorite ice cream flavor?

Sadly, the bell chimed at eight o'clock, signaling it was time to go back to our dorms.

"You ah…you better not follow me." I said awkwardly. "you don't want _them_ to catch you with me."

"Oh." her face fell from its prior happiness. "Okay. I—yeah, sure." she moved to walk away.

"Hey." I stopped her. "Not like that. You're cool. You just do _not_ want them after you. Savvy?"

She deliberated, and then nodded. "Savvy." she held out her pinky, which I took and shook, like we had been doing that for years.

I smiled at her, and watched as she walked around the bend in the Unmarked Hallway. After a minute, I followed suit and walked casually down to 216, feeling better than I had in a while. Trish had helped take my mind off missing Tom, the Populars…Austin. She really was cool.

I whistled low _If I Only Had A Brain_ from _The Wizard Of Oz_ under my breath as I walked down the hallway. Life was okay.

* * *

**There's chapter six. And that's who's voice it was, to all of you asking (if it wasn't already obvious, which it was. In fact, why am I even typing this?). Thanks so much to all the reviewers, and please, keep reviewing! And, just so you know, 'savvy' means, like, 'do you get it' or 'do we have an understanding'.**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven: Seatings & Storms

* * *

After that Sunday, it had seemed my life was turning around from its dead end, inevitably leading me to star on an episode of Criminal Minds. I ended up IMing and texting Trish every day. She had quickly become one of my best friends. I didn't tell her about Tom or Sarah or my parents or anything like that, but she was good company. She listened when I talked about music, unlike Bree or Jenna, who just chattered on about the latest Nicki Minaj single. That is not real music in my opinion, but I digress. She listened when I told her countless interesting facts about Bach or Beethoven or Taylor Swift.

And I listened to her when she talked about her annoying family. She had six little brothers and sisters, and every one of them annoyed her into the oblivion. I listened to her when she told me about Dez and her day (a first from anyone other than Dez, apparently).

She also listened when I talked about Austin. I told her about how I couldn't seem to let his memory alone. He kept sneaking up into my thoughts, like a ninja or something. I repeat, a mystery man.

Two weeks after Trish and Dez had caught Austin and I in the forest (doing nothing, I _SWEAR IT!_), we had a week off from classes. Which meant one thing, and one thing only for sixteens and over. We'd be going home.

And that is why, on Thursday May 29th at seven am exactly, I sat on my bed, my packed suitcase at my feet, waiting for the knock from one of the teachers, telling me the shuttle bus was ready to take us to New York airport.

After a few seconds, a sharp knock came at my door. I slung my carryon backpack over my shoulder and picked up my suitcase. I walked out of 216, and down the hall.

"Sup, Dawson." Jenna walked up beside me.

"Not much, Jenza." I'd been calling her Jenza for years. "Excited for Chicago?"

"You know it. I just wish I could go to Miami like you." she pouted her lip. "It's _impossible_ to tan in Illinois!"

I laughed along with her. "you would put more use to the sun than I would. I burn." I admitted.

"That's not entirely true. You kind of freckle." she assured me.

"Thanks." I said flatly. "Bree not coming?"

"Nah. Her parents are still going through the divorce, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Bree's parents had been having "relationship obstacles" for the past year, and two months ago, had decided to divorce. Since then, Bree hadn't been home. They were still in the same house, so arguing was inevitable.

We walked down the halls in the wake of the teachers and other students heading to the shuttle bus outside. We talked lightly, somehow making a ten minute argument about falafels. I don't even know what falafels are.

The group of about twenty students and three escorting teachers walked through the twenty feet high mahogany front doors of Anubis. Those doors are strictly off limits unless you have permission to use them. They don't give permission much. Shame, really. We were only a mere three hours outside of NYC. It would have made Saturdays at Anubis much more bearable if the front doors were free territory.

I scanned the crowd quickly. A familiar head of fiery red hair, right next to a mess of dark brown curls. Trish and Dez were going home to Miami. A few Unnecessaries, Dallas, and—most mournful of all—an all too familiar mob of blonde hair that always seemed to flop just the right way. At least he didn't live in Miami, right?

Ω

"Alright, Anubis!" Truant said to the crowd as we stood in front of the main entry way to New York Airport. "You know what to do. Be good, no federal offenses—Dallas, we're looking at you—no running away because we know where you hide, and no stalking Selena Gomez—Jake." Truant listed off the rules. Sad as it is, they were necessary. The Anubis crowd could get sketchy at times.

The crowd nodded in agreement, and made our way inside. Truant left us to find our gates and went back to the hell hole of a school.

I said good bye to Jenna and moved towards customs. After being frisked by security officers (not the highlight of my day) I moved on to gate 11 to catch the 11:30 direct flight to Miami.

At 11:23 exactly, I sat at my seat, reading the newest issue of People magazine. I sat with the window to my left and an empty seat to my right. At least, it was empty at 11:23. At 11:24 exactly, it was occupied by a familiarly shaped body. I looked over the article about Jennifer Aniston's latest woes at the boy smiling at me.

"Son of a bitch, you've _got_ to be kidding me." I said irritated to Austin.

"What's wrong, Ally? Don't you want to see me?" he flashed a smile.

"Since when do you live in Miami." I tried to ignore the butterflies flitting through my stomach.

"Well, it's lovely to see you too." he said. That forced me to crack a smile. Curses!

"Whatever, just answer my question!"

"I've lived in Miami my whole life. Diligent, aren't we?"

"Is everything a joke to you?"

"Well, not _everything_. But I'll admit, the majority of things are."

"Whatever."

"Is that your favorite word?" I shot daggers into him then. Unfortunately, right then was also the moment the plane decided to lurch forward, making me launch into Austin's lap. His arms caught around me for reassurance. The plane eventually settled into a steady rise.

I slowly—and very cliché like—looked up at his faintly smiling face above me.

"I got you." he murmured. I felt my face blush uncontrollably.

"Um. T-thanks." I said in a small voice. I sat up and settled back into my chair. I pulled my book it of the purse at me feet, followed by a pen. I opened to a fresh page and began doodling lyrics.

"What do you write in there?" Austin tried to peer over my shoulder to see the words, but I quickly snapped it shut before he could read the lyrics.

"Stuff." I said. I reopened to the page, careful to keep it upright slightly and shielded from Austin, and resumed writing.

"Whatever." he leaned back in his chair.

"Seems like you like that word, as well." I smiled sideways at him.

"whatever." he produced two earbuds from his jeans pocket and plugged into them. He made a point of turning on his iPod and cranking up the volume high.

"Whatever." I said under my breath. I put away my book and plugged into my own iPod, and turned up _Give Your Heart A Break_ by Demi Lovato. Halfway through the song, I realized two things. One: Austin had paused his music, pulled out his earbuds, and was staring at me, and two: I had been singing along to the song in a low voice. I quickly paused the song and pulled out the earbuds.

"S-s-s-sorry. I-I—" I tried to stammer out an apology, but Austin cut me off.

"Don't bother apologizing. I like your voice." he smiled and plugged back into his music. I blushed harder and turned the song back on.

Half a minute later, I felt something strange. Austin's warm hand slip into mine and intertwine our fingers. I glanced to my side to see him smiling at me in a secretive kind of way. He leaned over and—I kid you not—pecked my cheek lightly. My eyes fell to my lap as I tried to focus on the music. _Fallout_ by Mariana's Trench came on, imitating the opening of an old ABBA song.

_'I know you're fine,_

_But what do I do…'_

I looked out the window at the ground zipping underneath me. I thought about how planes were somehow magical places. They allowed humans to be in a domain they shouldn't be. A domain that was entirely unpredictable.

Ω

I am running through a forest as fast as I can. I am running from something, but what, I can't see. I keep running, pumping my arms at my sides. I glance behind me, but can see nothing through the endless black curtain of night. My lungs burn, but I keep running. I break through the line of trees—onto a cliff. I stop myself just as I am about to teeter over the edge. I spin around to see what is chasing me.

_'run'_ a voice says in the back of my mind. But to where?

A figure saunters through the trees behind me. A man, about five foot ten. I can barely see his outline through the endless dark, but I can see his big doe eyes well enough to know who it is.

"I-I—" I try to say something. But I can't.

Suddenly, Austin steps forward at a speed much faster than humanly possible. In a blink, he has his arms around me. But this isn't like any other time. This is more like he is trapping me in a cage. And I know he is.

"Good bye, Allyson." he purrs, and I see a flash in his eyes, a different color, like a burnt auburn color. His face contorts into a sinister expression. He bares his teeth—no, his _fangs_. He rears back, and goes for my throat. A scream tears through my throat, making it burn. That is, until Austin sinks his fangs into my throat and rips through it in a flourish.

Ω

"Ally!" a voice startled me awake. My eyes snapped open to see Austin shaking me awake. I jumped back a bit, still phased by the bone chilling nightmare. I blinked and focused on him.

"Yes?" I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"The pilot just came on. There's going to be some turbulence. He said to hold on." Austin reported.

"O-okay. Thanks." I said. I shook my head and sat up. Clipping on my seat belt, I looked out the window. "Holy shit."

The sky outside is a stormy black, with rumbling clouds and flashes of lightning. We seemed to be in the eye of a perfect lightning storm. The plane lurched.

* * *

**SNAP! What will the power duo do now? Cliffhangers for everyone! You get a cliffhanger! You get a cliffhanger! You get a cliffhanger! _Everybody get cliffhangers! _Ah, Oprah. And as for the Mariana's Trench-ABBA thing, I'm serious. I don't know which song of ABBA's it's in, but the beginning violins in Fallout are the same from an ABBA song! Anyways, thanks for reading, and please review! And, if you're going to favourite or put me on alert or whatever it is you guys do the way you do, please review as well. I love reading them! They make my confidence rise from the dirt to create more stories and novels!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight: Angels & Austies

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Recap:

"Ally!" a voice startled me awake. My eyes snapped open to see Austin shaking me awake. I jumped back a bit, still phased by the bone chilling nightmare. I blinked and focused on him.

"Yes?" I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"The pilot just came on. There's going to be some turbulence. He said to hold on." Austin reported.

"O-okay. Thanks." I said. I shook my head and sat up. Clipping on my seat belt, I looked out the window. "Holy shit."

The sky outside is a stormy black, with rumbling clouds and flashes of lightning. We seemed to be in the eye of a perfect lightning storm. The plane lurched.

* * *

"Holy crap." Austin said in my ear, staring out at the brewing clouds. The lurch threw us forward, onto the seats in front of us. My head smacked onto the seat. My vision hazed for a second, before it was cleared by a shrill scream. My head still throbbed with pain. I felt a drop of blood fall into my eyebrow.

The plane jolted again, sending me into Austin's lap. For the love of god. Austin's arms went around me protectively. Fear played through me. From Austin's touch, from the plane jolting, from the women and men around us screaming, from the baby behind me crying. From everywhere.

Suddenly, the plane dipped down and fell. There was a moment of weightlessness, just for a millisecond. I smiled inwardly at the flip in my stomach. I heard another scream somewhere. It sounded closer than the others. I was puzzled for a moment, wondering where it had come from, until I realized it was me who screamed.

The plane leveled out. I breathed a sigh of relief, until it pitched forward again. A fresh dose of fear spilled into my veins. This time, I fell to the side, smacking my head against the wall of the plane, right on the corner of the window and the wall. I heard a sickening _crack!_

"_Austin!_" I yelled. I don't know why I yelled _his_ name and not Tom's or mom's or someone's. Maybe even '_help!_' But it was his.

He yelled something back, but I couldn't hear over the screams and roars of failing engines and the high-pitched ringing in my ears.

The plane dropped once more. The lights over head flickered out, leaving us in pure darkness, just like my dream. My head hit the plastic of the headrest. Hard. Another, more damaged-sounding _CRACK! _For the next few minutes, everything was a blur. Ears ringing, Austin shouting something at me, ears ringing, black edging my vision, fighting for consciousness, ears ringing, blood dripping down from a cut on my forehead, Austin, ears ringing, unconsciousness, Austin, screaming, Austin, Austin, Austin…

Ω

I woke up to a steady beeping. The next thing I perceived was the sharp, clinical smell. I summoned all my strength and peeled open my eyes. My eyeballs were immediately assaulted by blinding white.

"Ally?" I heard someone say. I turned my head—ignoring the pain shooting up my spine—and saw Tom sitting on a chair beside my…my hospital bed.

"Tom?" I said in a raspy voice that was surely not mine. But I knew it was. My mouth felt dry and course, like sandpaper. An IV was pricked into my hand. Two tubes were plugged into my nostrils. I could feel oxygen being fed into me through the tubes.

"Ally." my brother breathed. He smiled. He leaned his elbows on his knees. "They—they said you'd be okay. I knew it. I—" he choked. I swear I saw tears spilling from my eyes. Tears. Worry. Austin. That made the blonde flit through my mind.

"Where's Austin?" I rasped.

Tom's face turned back to seriousness. His eyes flicked to the side. I looked to where his eyes were gesturing, my flowery hospital gown crinkling as I moved. Austin lay flat on the hospital bed beside me, half a foot away, sleeping. I watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. He was still alive.

"W—what happened?" I croaked out.

"Your plane went down. The storm was too much." Tom had tears running down his cheeks by then. A thought flitted into my mind.

"Trish. Dez. Where…?" I could already feel sleep trying to capture me. I forced myself to stay awake with Tom.

"The brown haired girl and the red headed boy from Anubis? They're a few rooms down the hall. They're fine. Just phased." I let out a breath. All four Anubis kids had made it through.

"I missed you." I said in my god awful rasp.

"I missed you too, Pickles." he reached over and squeezed my hand. I smiled broadly at the sound of Tom's old nickname for me. Pickles. Because, ever since I was three, I've always been in love with pickles.

"You look so tired." I said.

"I've been up for twelve hours, waiting for you to wake up." he admitted. The half moons under his chocolate eyes seemed more prominent for a second before returning to their previous depth.

"Well, I'm up now. Sleep." I told him.

He ran a hand through his dark hair, identical to mine. "Promise you'll wake me when Sarah gets here?"

"Promise." I nodded. Another shot of pain went through my spine, but I ignored it.

He winked and leaned back in his chair. He shut his eyes, and within minutes, his rumbling snores were filling the quiet room.

I smiled at Tom. I loved him to pieces, but his sinuses were ridiculous.

I set my head back on the plush pillow and studied the ceiling. It was painted a light, dull gray. Boring.

"You love your brother." a coarse voice said. I turned to my head to my side—ignoring the pain—and looked at Austin. His eyes were only half open, blinking in the harsh light. "You love him a lot."

"Of course. He's my brother." I answered.

"Blood doesn't always mean love." he replied. That perplexed me. What did he…?

Austin turned his head to the ceiling and trained his eyes on the tiles.

"You…you said something on the plane. Before we crashed." I remembered.

He smiled halfway. "Ally." was all he said. I didn't know if he was just addressing me, or whatever, but that spurred something in me.

I reached over and grabbed his hand. It was hard and course, but I curled my fingers around his nevertheless.

"What are you doing?" he asked, still watching the ceiling.

"Call it a…chemistry experiment." I flashed a devilish smile.

He laughed a labored sort of laugh. "That was a terrible line."

"Well, you can't be the only one in this duo that has bad lines."

"That's ridiculous. My lines are golden."

"As golden as your devil horns."

"I believe I am an _angel_, not a devil."

"If you say so."

"Pretty Girl."

"Nerd."

Ω

I had fallen asleep, and was jostled awake a few hours later by a nurse coming in and checking my heart rate.

"Allyson? There's someone here to see you." she said in a quiet, tentative voice.

"Who is it?" I croaked.

"She says she's your sister in law." she moved around my bed, checking the machines hooked up to me. She adjusted the IV dosage and took measurements of my heart rate.

"Sarah?" I asked.

"Yes, that's it. Do you want to see her?" the nurse nodded.

"I—yes. Can I?"

"Of course you can, sweetie." she assured me and walked briskly out of the room, shutting the door after her. A few minutes later, the door opened again, and a slim figure ran in. The figure threw herself onto me in a hug. For once, instead of brushing her off, I hugged Sarah tightly.

"Ally! Are you okay?" she asked in a frantic voice.

"I will be once you stop blocking my oxygen tube." I struggled out.

"Oh," she stood up straight and blushed. "Sorry. I just—Tom and I were so worried when the hospital called."

"You…were worried about me?" I asked.

"Of course I was, Ally. You're not just my sister in law. You're my little sister." she said. I couldn't help but smile at that. Sarah had never called me her sister—or even her sister in law—before.

"Thanks." I said, and then remembered. "Tom. He said to wake him when you got here."

"Let him sleep." she looked at her husband, still asleep on the chair, snoring loudly. She sat on the edge of my bed. "So, what's with him?" she gestured to Austin asleep in the bed beside me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When the ambulance got you two out of the wreck, he wouldn't let them take him unless he was in the same ambulance with you. Then he refused to sit still so they could check out his lung until the doctors put him in the same room as you." she told me. That stunned me. He…

"Did he r-really?" I couldn't help my eyes sliding over to the sleeping blonde beside me.

"Yeah." she smiled maliciously at me in a way I did not like.

"How's Tom been?"

"He's been good. We both have." there was something in her voice; something I could have identified had it not zipped away so fast.

"That's good." I said. "I—"

The door burst open and a stout woman rushed in. She ran over to Austin and threw herself onto the boy.

"Whaa…" Austin stirred. "Ma?"

The woman looked up at Austin and wrapped her arms around his rising shoulders.

"Oh, Austie, Austie. Your father couldn't come now. I swear he's coming later." she said.

"It's okay, ma. I'm okay, I swear." Austin assured the woman—his mother. He hugged his mother back tightly.

"Should we give them some privacy?" Sarah whispered to me.

"Oh, my dear." Austin's mother let go of her son and looked at us. "No, that's quite alright, I…" she trailed off.

"Ally…lady I don't know, this is my mom." Austin said.

"Hi, Mrs. Moon." I waved at Austin's mother.

"Please, Ally, call me June." she said.

"Right, June." I told myself. "Austin, June. This is my…Sarah. This is Sarah." I had almost called her my brother's wife. That would spike questions about mom and dad and…well, you guys know how I am in regards to my parents.

"Hi, Sarah." June shook Sarah's hand, and then looked back to her still groggy son. "What am I going to do with you, boy?"

"You could send me on my way with a Fudgesicle and a pat on the head." Austin suggested. By accident, I let out a bubbling laugh. June and Sarah, on the other hand, did not find it as funny. June shot Austin and a look, while Sarah gave me a look that greatly rivaled Truant's Look for first place on the top ten charts of "_Evil Looks From Hell_". I sank back a bit into my bed.

* * *

**So now we have met Ally's family, as well as the dastdardly infamous '_Sarah_'. I like that word, '_dastardly_'... Tell me what you thought of this chapter, please! I love reading your reviews! They're the highlights of my days! Yeah, I...I don't have the biggest life outside of the Inter-connected-net and writing...**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine: Morphine & Motor Skills

* * *

Tom, Sarah, and June were shooed away soon after so Austin and I could rest. We didn't.

"Tom and Sarah seem nice." Austin said once the three had been kicked out of the room.  
"And June seems double nice. Austie." I smiled evilly at him. His cheeks flushed with color.  
"God, my mom can be pretty annoying sometimes." he shook his head.  
"No, she was so nice! And I think it's kind of cute she has a nickname for you." I said.  
"So does Tom. Pickles." then it was his turn to flash an evil smile.  
"You were awake then?"  
"Of course."  
"Why didn't you say anything?"  
"Know thine enemy, Allyson Dawson, and you shall win the war."  
"And here I thought we were finally getting along." I raised an eyebrow at him.  
"Our two worlds have been separated for too long. We have been written in the stars to never get along."  
"You're loss."

I settled back into my pillow and focused on the ceiling. The clock on the wall told me it was eleven at night. I shut my eyes and tried to think back to the plane, but nothing past my head hitting the plastic of the headrest. Out of reflex, I touched the back of my head. Immediately, pain shot through my head, making it throb. I gasped a bit. Black spots clouded my vision.

"You alright?" Austin asked worriedly.

"I—yeah. I just…my head hurts." I said.

I heard sheets rustle, and suddenly my bed was weighed down on one side. I turned and look at Austin, now lying directly beside me in my hospital bed. He smiled ghostly.

"But don't you—" I started.

"It's a broken arm. Not exactly motor skills-impairing." he waved his casted arm in my line of vision.

I laughed a bit. "Then what _does_ impair your motor skills?"

"My charm and grace are more than enough to supply my motor skills, thank you very much."

He leaned down, towards me. I caught a waft of his fresh summer breeze-like scent. The scent made my head swim, but not in a way that was bad. It was more nice, _oh, that smells delectable _than, _my word, that man uses _way _too much Axe. _

"What are you…?" I whispered, and then trailed off when his face inched nearer and nearer. After a few grueling seconds, I couldn't take his closeness anymore.

Now, the old Ally would have punched him in the neck for being so close. Nuuupe! I leaned up and pressed my lips to his cheek. His body heat radiated onto me, warming me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but for some reason, that side of my body tingled, like tiny tickles of lightning electrocuting my every nerve. Thank heavens I was in a hospital.

"Why did you…?" he murmured in my ear.

"Don't ask. Or I will be forced to slap you." I warned.

"But you can't even pack a decent kick."

"Would you like to test that theory? Because I'm sure there's some unexplored area between your legs that could disprove it."

"Oh, Ally, Ally, Allyson. When will you get it through that pretty little head of yours that I am just trying to help you?" he '_booped_' my nose with his forefinger.

"Don't '_boop_' my nose. And who says I need your help."

In response, and wrapped his arms around me, sending the tickles of lightning previously mentioned coursing throughout my entire circulatory system.

He leaned really close to my ear and breathed, "You did. The day I first met you. You said you'd never fall in love. I took that as a challenge."

"What?" I pulled back and looked at him, startled. Unfortunately, that was also the exact moment a new drop of morphine dripped from the machine into my system, making the world go dark.

Ω

The next time I woke up, I was in my bed alone. I looked over to see Austin asleep in his hospital bed. The door to the hospital room opened, and Tom walked in, with a doctor, a nurse, and Sarah in tow.

The nurse moved over to Austin and shook him awake, while Tom, Sarah, and the doctor moved over to me. The doctor leaned over me and flashed a light in my eyes.

"What are you doing?" I eyed the doctor, Doctor Linmak, as it said on her gold name tag.

"Seeing if you have a concussion." she said. She snapped her light off. "You're good. Now, Ally. We are going to let you out in a few hours, but first, you will have a session with the hospital psychiatrist."

"Why?"

"In case the crash traumatized you at all psychologically." she took measurements of the machines.

"Fine." I said stubbornly.

I let Tom and Sarah help me stand. My legs felt shaky and uncertain underneath me, but I pushed that aside and took a few tentative steps forward. As I kept moving, my legs became more sure of themselves. I followed Dr. Linmak out of the hospital room and down the dully lit hallways. She escorted me into a room at the end of the hall.

"Dr. Jonish will be in a minute to start your session." Dr. Linmak said. I nodded and sat on the lifeless, over stuffed gray couch. Dr. Linmak walked out the room and shut the door behind her.

I looked around the room. It was a small room, with no windows (I did not consider that a good sign. In the movies, the girl always got murdered in a room with no windows) and only the couch I was on and armchair across from me for furniture. Several diplomas were framed on the walls; a doctorate, graduation from the country's top psychiatric university, a certificate that was clearly printed off a computer that said "world's best dad!"

"You must be Allyson." the door opened. A man, around thirty, walked in and shut the door behind him. He had jet black hair and vivid blue eyes.

"Call me Ally." I said in a small voice. I'd been to a shrink before, after my parents died. But Dr. Jonish scared me more than Dr. Jenny ever did. "Please."

"Of course. Ally. Please, call me Will. Now, let's get started, shall we?"

"Whatever you say, Will." I said.

"Mmm." he seemed annoyed for a moment. "Please lay down and close your eyes." I lay back on the couch and shut my eyes, temporarily frozen by the darkness. "Now, when you think about the plane crash, what do you see?"

"I…" I thought back to the crash. "There's…there's fire and screaming, a-and fear, and…and Aust—" my voice faltered.

"I'm sorry, what was that last one?" Will asked. I'm pretty sure he didn't need to ask, but that's what shrinks do. They pull out your inner demons and burn them at the stake.

"A-arguing. I said arguing." I covered up. Will grunted, sounding like he didn't believe me. I wouldn't have believed me, truth be told.

"And what else besides…_arguing_?" he said.

I let my mind wander to that afternoon, two days ago. "I can see…lightning. And a storm. And…and I'm scared."

"Scared? Why are you scared?" he said.

"I-I'm looking. But I'm not looking hard enough, and I…I can't find Aust—arguers. I can't find the arguers." I told him.

"Ally. I know you're not looking for the arguers." Will said.

I took a deep breath. "I know."

"Now, who are you _really_ looking for?" he prodded.

"Promise you won't tell him?" I know that seems a little juvenile, but come on. I was talking to a shrink. I had a right to be a little juvenile here and there.

"promise." he said.

"Fine. I'm…I'm looking for Austin."

* * *

**Chapter nine! Now, why on earth would Ally be searching for Austin? Surely there is nothing going on between them, or they would have acted on it by now. At least, _smart _people would. I think we've established that, while the dynamic duo _is _a Nerd Duo, they are absolutely terrible at playing themselves.  
A note to Hetheillest: why thank you! And if you want Popular To Invisible to get more reviewers, you need to a) review yourelves, and 2) share these with your friends! Tell them the joyous news, and get them to review!  
Thanks, and please share this with your friends, family, stuffed teddy bears, pet iguanas, imaginary spouss, real spouses, or even you dog's secret love, the cat.**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten: Notes & Not My Fault

* * *

The doctors weren't lying when they said I would be going home after my session with Will. After an hour of talking about the crash and _*ehem*_ what I was looking for, Dr. Linmak came back and took me back to the hospital room, where Trish and Dez sat on my bed, regularly clothed.

I threw myself onto the two, hugging them ferociously. I watched as Austin followed Dr. Linmak for his session with Will.

"So what happened? With the plane, I mean?" I asked as soon as Austin was out of the room.

"One of the engines failed. The plane went down and hit North Miami Beach." Trish told me.

"Did anyone…did we lose anyone?" I asked, none too eager for the answer.

"No. Luckily, the pilot got the plane close enough to the ground that the damage to passengers was minimal." she told me.

"Well, there was _one_ casualty." Dez's face fell into sadness. "My wedding cake. I'll never forget you." he burst into tears. Trish smiled and rubbed her boyfriend's back. I was about to ask _where_ he go a wedding cake, and exactly how he got it on a plane. But I was none too eager for that answer, as well.

"It's okay, Dezmo. It's okay." she soothed him. Slowly, he calmed down and away from tears.

"Umm…" I said.

We talked for a few more minutes, until the door opened again. This time, Tom walked in, linked in arms with Sarah.

"You ready to go home, Pickles?" Tom asked. I groaned slightly at his nickname, but more when Trish flashed a malicious smile at me that told me she planned to take advantage of the age old nickname.

"I'm not going until I say good bye to Austin." I said, surprising even myself with the words. Trish's eyebrows shot up.

"Okay." Tom nodded. "Just get changed. Sarah brought you some clothes from home."

Sarah stepped forward and handed me a neatly folded pile of clothes. I nodded my thanks at her and retreated to the bathroom. I quickly slipped on the pair of jean shirts and the sunsetty kind of orange T-shirt Sarah had brought me. I surveyed myself in the mirror of the small bathroom.

There was a thin, angry red line of stitches on my forehead where I had cut my head on the headrest in front of me. My lip was also split from that headrest bang, but that was healing more quickly than the head thing was. I touched the back of my head gingerly. That was where the bulk of the damage was. A pretty serious cut to the head and some head trauma that had faded a few hours ago.

I hated that my skin looked so pale and pasty. Well, of course it was. I'd been in a hospital for the past two or three days, under artificial lighting that had no hope of being strong enough in UV rays to tan me.

I sighed and walked out of the bathroom. Trish was talked excitedly to Sarah, while Tom just sat on the bed and watched Dez perplexedly as Dez produced a piccolo from his pocket and began using it as a drum stick on the metal bed frame.

Another body was also in the room again. Austin was back from his surprisingly short shrink session. He was dressed normally, out of his flowery hospital gown. He wore regular dark jeans and a loose fitting gray T-shirt that read, '_Yeah. I'm him_'. I smiled at the t-shirt. That was _so_ Austin.

"You going home?" he asked me.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yep. Mom's just bringing the car around." he smiled at me. He reached it and pulled me into a hug. "See ya later, Ally, Ally, Allyson." he said quietly into my ear. As he pulled away, he covertly put something into my hand; a small slip of paper.

"Later, Austin." I slipped the piece of paper into my shorts pocket and waved. I hugged Trish and gave Dez a high three (he absolutely refused to give me a high five), and then followed Tom and Sarah out of the hospital room. We walked down the dimly lit hallways, and to the front doors.

"Ready?" Tom asked me just as we were about to step through the doors.

"Let's do this." I said in a determined voice.

Together, we pushed open the doors and stepped out Ito the bright sunshine. My eyes instinctively shut to block the harsh light. Slowly, they adjusted, allowing me to open them again.

Tom led me over to where he had parked the car, and opened the door for me. I slid onto the leather upholstery of the 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe. Not exactly pick of the lot for 2012, but it was a great car that ran exceptionally well. Tom and Sarah sat down in the front seats and Tom started the ignition. The engine roared to life.

I settled back into my seat and pulled out the tiny paper Austin gave me. I read:

_555-6373 call me when you get home -A xxx_

'_Xxx_'? He did know those meant kisses, right? Nerds.

"Oh, Ally," Sarah said. I looked up from the note to see her dangling my book from her fingertips. "The doctors gave me this to give to you."

I snatched the book away and hugged it close to my chest. I eyed her evilly for touching my book. Tom, who was watching in the rear view mirror, laughed and said, "Never touch Ally's book."

"Exactly." I nodded. Sarah laughed and turned back to the front.

I looked over the worn leather cover of my songbook. My stomach dropped when I saw a smear of blood across the front. I must have been holding it without realizing it when the crash happened.

I flipped through the pages. All the passages were present and accounted for—plus one. It was a passage I'd never noticed before. Writing only filled the corner of the page in a familiarly neat handwriting. The 'e's looked like half-moons with lines slashed through them. Goddammit.

'_This is what you get for leaving your book in the music room. Yeah, I knew it was you._'

That son of a bitch! Not only did he touch my book—automatic death penalty—but he also knew I snuck out of my dorm to play music. That nerd had singlehandedly ruined my life.

I shook my head and took out the pen that rested in the pocket of the door. I opened the book to a new page and touched the pen to the page.

_Dear Diary_

_I…I don't know why I'm writing. I don't know what to write, really. Well, that's certainly a first, eh? I was released from the hospital today, after my session with Will. The session was…interesting. I don't know what to say about it._

_Well, I do know what I can talk about: the resident Nerd Of Anubis himself. We had to share a hospital room (at his request, apparently) and…god, I'm usually such a chatter box, aren't I? I guess Austin has stricken me silent. If Tom knew, he'd give Austin a hug, I think. He revels the moments I am not talking. Austin has been striking me silent for weeks now, and I still cannot get used to it. He held my hand, right before the plane went down on North Miami Beach, and it was sort of like my throat closed passage before words could get out. Yet, when I grab hold of his hand, he is perfectly fine, without a care in the world. I don't like this._

_Nerds._

_What do I do, diary? God, listen to me! I'm asking an inanimate object, a collection of pages, for god's sake, for advice on a guy! I'm Ally Dawson, goddammit! I can get any guy I want with the flick of my hair! Why is_ this_ guy so hard for me to figure out? Maybe…I don't know, maybe it's because it's_ him._ No, I'm not losing my touch with guys. I—yes. It must be him. It's all his fault. Yes, I rather like blaming him._

"Welcome home, Pickles." Tom said. He turned around in his seat and smiled at me. I returned his smile and looked out the window.

Beside us was the familiar building of the Sonic Boom, the music store my family owns. On top of the Sonic Boom was our apartment, and my practice room. Yes, no matter how many years I spend at Anubis, I'll always be a Miami Girl.

* * *

**Amazing how one boy can make a girl completely lose her touch, isn't it? Well, it's certainly amazing how one boy can make a story come to life. Okay, I don't know what I'm saying, I'm literally just blabbering right now. Tell me what you thought of this chapter, please! A few notes to reviewers:  
****imawesome: Calm. Down. Just calm down. Everthing will resolve itself eventually, just CALM DOWN  
****whyhellothere: thank you!  
hetheillest: awesome, thank you! You. Are. Legen-wait for it-_DARY!_**

**_-_KR Blake Ω**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven: Hearts & Hand Holding

* * *

The next morning, I was woken up by my iPhone vibrating. I peeled my eyes open and looked at the screen. One new text.

**(**Austin's texts: **bold **|| Ally's texts: _italics_**)**

'**What are you doing today?**'

The rat bastard woke me up at seven am to ask _that?_

'_Not hanging with you._'

'**Ouch.**'

'_I'm going out. Not with you._'

'**Fine. Text you later.**'

'_I look forward to it!_'

'**Later Ally-gator.**'

'_Terrible. Just terrible._'

I shut off my phone and took a deep breath. I sat up, looking around bleary eyed. Goddamn Moon.

I stood and looked around my small room. I loved the white painted walls with blue clouds painted at the top. I loved the plain oak desk with stacks of books covering it. I loved the overflowing bookshelf in the corner with every one of my favourite books. The Darkest Powers **[1]**, The Darkness Rising **[2]**, The Mortal Instruments **[3]**, The Infernal Devices **[4]**, The Three Levels Of Reality **[5]**. I loved everything about that room. It was my home within my home. If that makes sense.

I walked out of the small bedroom and down the hall, into the kitchen. Sarah sat at the round kitchen table, reading the latest issue of _OK!_ magazine.

"Morning, Ally." she said over her magazine.

"Morning, Scar—morning Sarah." I nearly called her by my old nickname for her, Scarah. She and Tom got married when they were twenty three. I didn't like her then, when I was thirteen. I'm still not crazy about her, but I don't hate her quite as much.

Sarah smiled and laughed to herself. She knew about my little nickname for her. "What are your plans for today?"

"I was thinking about going to the forest." I told her. '_The Forest_'. That was the family's little code name for the graveyard in the forest.

Sarah nodded. "I suppose you'd want to after the plane." I flinched at her words. Thankfully, she didn't see, or she would have called up Dr. Jenny in a heartbeat.

Ω

After a bowl of lucky charms, a trip to the bathroom, and getting dressed, I grabbed my backpack and headed out to the forest. I took the side paths, and entered the thick trees of the forest. Once I was in the trees, I took off my worn gladiator sandals and walked the paths barefoot. I'd always loved walking barefoot. It was _so_ much better than walking with shoes on.

I made my way easily through the trees, weaving in between the shrubbery, moving by the memory of taking the paths for years.

I passed the two trees that looked like they were hugging, and over the fallen log blocking the path.

Finally, after twenty minutes of trekking through dense forest, I came to the gates of the graveyard. The gates were big and made of stone, with wrought iron entry gates encrusted with pure copper and good. The beautiful spindly designs in the gates made you momentarily forget you were in a graveyard. But then you saw the gloom that lay past the gates, and you remember exactly why you came.

I hoisted myself over the four foot high stone of the gates and dusted some fallen brush off my skirt. I scanned the gravestones until I found the two side by side at the edge of the yard, right beside the gate, that I was looking for. I made my way over to them. I read the one on the left:

_Here Lies Katelyn "Kate" Marie Dawson  
1976-2005  
Loving wife and mother  
"in three words, I can summarize all that I have learned in life: it goes on"_

The one to the right, nearly identical to the last one, read:

_Here Lies Jonathan Christopher "Lester" Dawson  
1975-2005  
Committed Husband and Loving Father  
"still climbing to the surface"_

I smiled at dad's "_quote_". He was always joking. When Tom and I had to design the gravestones, Tom suggested that, and, well, it just seemed like it would have been a "_dad_" kind of thing.

I felt hit tears burn my eyes. I sat on the grass in front of the two grave sites cross legged.

"Hey, mom, dad." I said. "I—I miss you. A lot. School's been going well. My grades are the usual. Friends are…good. And…and there's this boy." I know it seems crazy to be talking to my dead parents. But for some reason, talking to them and pretending they could answer always seemed to make me feel better. When they first died, I used to go there every day and just talk to them aimlessly. I would tell them about current events, my report cards, what Tom was up to. "H—his name is Austin. Mom, I know you always wanted me to find the boy I'd love forever and just know immediately, like you and dad. Well, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen any time soon. With Austin, he…he's different. I don't know. I think…I can kind of see myself being with him. But he'd never go for a girl like me." I lay back on the grass and watched the dark clouds swirling overhead, like mom and I always used to do. It was going to rain soon, I could tell that.

"I'm a nerd. I'm just a lowly Unnecessary. No guy like him would ever fall for me, right? I know what you'd say, mom. That I'm the coolest, and if he didn't like me like I think I like him, it's his loss. But…I kind of don't want to give up on him. Maybe all that running around is what we're meant to do, and we'll have our very own HEA **[6]**. Someday." I stayed quiet for a while, just listening to the breeze rustle the leaves of the trees, the birds singing in the forest. It was warm, but not blisteringly hot. It was the perfect Miami day.  
"Dad, you always said that running was a waste of time; that flying was where it was _really_ at. I feel like…maybe I could really fly with him. I don't know. God, I don't know a lot these days. My brain is just jumbled into a big pile of noth—" I was cut off by the wrought iron gates screeching open. I clamped my mouth shut, not wanting to get tossed into the loony bin for talking to myself. I trained my eyes on the clouds forming shapes above me. I heard footsteps passing across the grass to a grave stone across the yard from me. It didn't really bother me that I had to shut up; it gave me a chance to figure my mind out.

"Hey." I heard the voice travel across the yard. It sounded startlingly familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "I love you. I miss you, Ari." I felt myself getting close to figuring out who the voice belonged to. "I…I don't know why I'm here. I guess it's this girl." it clicked then. I knew who it was. My breath was sucked out of my lungs. God, WHY was he here? I'm mean, how is that fair? "She's…different. Kind of like you. Exactly like you, actually. She's smart. And pretty. And, well, she's amazing. And she always smells really, really nice. Like lemons, kind of." I wondered who he was talking about. Was there a girl in Miami? Oh my god, _did he have a girlfriend?_

"Excuse me?" he said. "Who's there? I know you're listening!" oh god. I must have said that instead of thought it. Shit!

Slowly, I sat up, and faced him.

"Ally." he said. "Wh–what are you doing here?"

"I should ask you, Mr. Two-Timer." I crossed my arms over my chest and shot him an icy glare.

"Wha—_two timer?_ I'm not a Two Timer. I'm not even a One Timer." he said. I didn't believe him.

"Then who was that girl you were telling that gravestone about?" I said. His face paled to a deathly white. "Your girlfriend? What did you think, just because I'm some 'Pretty Girl', you could just use me to cheat on her while you were out of the state? Is that it?"

"What—no! Don't you know me at all? Why would I cheat on someone? And I don't have a girlfriend." he defended himself. He threw the flowers in his hand onto the grave in a huff.

"Then who's the girl that smells like lemons! Is she your wife, possibly?"

"No! I don't have a girlfriend, I most certainly do not have a wife, and I'm not cheating on anyone!" his voice rose a few decibels. Suddenly, the dark heavens opened up on us, and within seconds, we were both drenched in rain. The raindrops were ice cold on contact, sending shivers up my spine when they landed on my exposed skin, but not in a good way.

"Then who is she!" I yelled at him. Birds flew from their perches in the trees at my raised voice.

"She's you, goddammit!" he yelled at me. I felt the blood drain away from my face. "God, I thought you were smart! How could you not see it was you?"

"Because, for the past three weeks, I've been trying to figure out why a guy like you would kiss a girl like me! And that girl you were talking about, that couldn't have been me! I'm not pretty, I'm not smart, and I'm sure as hell not amazing!" I screamed that last part. I was just so…so angry and confused. How could she have been me! The way he was describing that girl, he made her sound like she was the perfect girl. "I'm a liar, and a cheat, and _ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE FOR EVEN BEING ALIVE WHILE THEY'RE DEAD!_" those slipped from my lips before I could stop them. They weren't supposed to come out.

"Dammit, Ally!" he said. "Are really that daft? I'm crazy about you! Crazier than I've ever been about anyone in my life! I can see myself growing up, and you're always there, right beside me, with your tiny little hand in mine, taking it all in with me!"

That struck me silent. The whole world seemed to cave in around him. He ran a hand through his blonde hair. All of a sudden, he sprinted across the yard over to me. He cupped the sides of my face and pulled it right up close to his. My lips were so _close_ to his. My spine felt like a kleptomaniac snowman was rifling through it for loose change.

"God, Ally. You're always there." he murmured. "Whenever I think about the future, I don't know why, but you're always there, rolling your pretty little doe eyes. I like you, Ally."

"I…" I searched for words. But nothing. Just a blank.

Austin let out a breath. "Of course. Why would you like me back? Pretty Girl." he let go of my face and turned away. He started walking away, and I finally got it then. I didn't want him to leave. I wanted him to stay with me.

"Hey," I caught hold if his wrist. "That's not fair!"

"I think we've established we're well past '_fair_'." he turned around to me.

His face, normally handsome to a breaking point, was contorted in sadness. His big brown eyes were brimming with tears. The sight of his face made me lose it. Screw '_just playing around_'. I was out for blood—metaphorically speaking.

I tried to think of what to do. Should I hug him? Should I tell him how I feel? But then, I had a revelation. I shut off my brain, and let my heart do the thinking for once.

I grabbed hold if his other wrist and pulled him into me. I grabbed hold of the front of his worn band t-shirt, and kissed him harshly. We were both soaked but that didn't really matter, for some reason. Sure, my clothes were wet, and my hair would curl like there was no tomorrow, but, for some unknown turn of fate, Austin was mine right then.

I know this sounds incredibly cliché and sappy, but really, it was a kiss to end all others.

His hands moved to my waist, sending the familiar, yet startlingly new, lightning bolts flying through me. I pulled away and smiled at him shyly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, standing on my tip toes to reach, and mussed up his sopping wet, blonde hair.

"You know," I whispered in his ear. "As cliché as it sounds, I've always wanted to be kissed in the rain."

"Really?" he returned my smile. I nodded. He looked up at the heavens raining down on us. "We should probably go home."

"Or, we could just sit in the shade." I suggested.

"That could work." he let go of my waist and grabbed hold of my hand instead. I intertwined my fingers with his. He led me across the yard. He stopped in front of the grave he was visiting and bent down to the dropped bouquet of flowers. I read the gravestone quickly.

_"Here Lies Arialla Jocelyn Moon  
1993-2009  
Joyful Spirit and Loving Sister  
May You Rest In Peace"_

Austin stood back up and turned back around to me. He was holding a single flower in his hand, covered in rain droplets. I blushed and took the flower, accidentally pricking my finger on a thorn.

"Who's Arialla?" I asked. His face immediately fell. He just nodded his head towards a large tree a few feet away. As soon as we were under, the rain stopped pelting us so forcefully. I looked down at the flower in my hand. It was a rose, but not a typical one. This one was a dark red mixed with black color, completely black at the tips.

"It's a Black Magic Rose. They were Ari's favourite **[7]**." Austin said.

"Who's Ari?" I looked up from the captivating rose to the even more captivating boy.

He took a deep breath. "She's…she's my sister."

* * *

**A/Ns:**

**[1] and [2]: These two series are both written by Kelley Armstrong. Both amazing trilogies. I met Kelley Armstrong a few weeks ago, and she is _so nice_.  
[3] and [4]: These are two series by Cassandra Clare. I am absolutely in love with these series, and I highly recommend you read these, even more than the Kelley Armstrong books (which I also recommend).  
[5]: That's me! I wrote this series!  
[6]: This is an acronym for Happily Ever After. I got it from this book I read for my book club, Chance To Dance For You. It's really an amazing book that brings a new light to bullying that has never really been ventured before. I recommend it if you like books about real life, but not if you're younger than, like, 13.  
[7]: This is my favourite type of flower. Just...thought you should...know...yeah...**

* * *

**So there. They're pretty much together now, I think. And can I just say: it's _about time! _I know it's my story, so I could have gotten them together at any time I felt like, but the story wouldn't have been as good as if I had gotten them together right away. That's the thing about being an author, no matter how much you want something to happen, the story has to take its own toll. But at least I finally understand why God makes bad things happen. It is _fun!_ Please review and tell me what you think, please!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve: Sisters & Suicide

* * *

Recap:

* * *

_"Who's Arialla?" I asked. His face immediately fell. He just nodded his head towards a large tree a few feet away. As soon as we were under, the rain stopped pelting us so forcefully. I looked down at the flower in my hand. It was a rose, but not a typical one. This one was a dark red mixed with black color, completely black at the tips._

_"It's a Black Magic Rose. They were Ari's favourite." Austin said._

_"Who's Ari?" I looked up from the captivating rose to the even more captivating boy._

_He took a deep breath. "She's…she's my sister."_

* * *

"S–sister?" I asked. His eyes immediately saddened.

"Yeah. My sister. She…she committed suicide." I sucked in a breath. "When I was thirteen. She was sixteen. She had it all; popularity, a hot boyfriend, tons of friends, everyone wrapped around her finger. Then one day, she just…let it all go. The police found her at the public pool w–with—" he cut off, his voice cracking. He turned away.

I reached for him. I noticed his shoulders were shaking slightly. He was crying. I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders. His hand found mine and intertwined our fingers. He pressed his lips against the back of my hand.

"Her suicide note said she couldn't take her life anymore. And…I don't want to see that happen to you."

It dawned on me then. "That's why you said you didn't want to see another girl die right in front of you."

"I should have seen it in Ari. She never looked happy. Not really." he put his head in his free hand. "That's why, when I saw you, I wanted to help. When I looked into your eyes months ago, I saw the same hollow look Ari always had in her eyes. I couldn't let another girl let go like she did."

He took a ragged breath and wrapped his arms around me.

"I don't know what to say." But then I did. "When I was nine, my parents died." He pulled away and looked at me. "That's why I was here today."

"Ally…" he started.

"Stuff it. I know what you're going to say. _'Oh, poor girl. Dead parents, I must pity her and always bring up what she lost instead of letting her move on with life'_. Well, I don't want to hear it, Moon. They're dead. There's nothing I can do about it. It's just me and Tom, now. I love Tom. He's my family. Do I wish my parents hadn't died? Every fucking day. But I've moved on; let it go. No one has to know. And I like it like that." I said.

"But…why is this a secret?" he said.

"Because I like it when people don't pity me. They'd see me as the poor orphan child, the charity case. Only at Anubis on a full scholarship."

"You haven't even told your friends?" he stroked my hair soothingly.

"No. Then everything would come out. The scholarships. The accident. Everything I'd hidden would come tumbling out."

"But why do you hide it? You're smart—smarter than most—yet you act like a complete bimbo. Why?" His big eyes were full of worry. For me. I wasn't used to someone worrying about me other than Tom. And even then, he didn't worry about me much.

"Because I don't want to end up like you. No offense."

"None taken."

"Look, when I came to Anubis, it was like…God opened the heavens and gave me a once in a lifetime chance to reinvent myself from that dorky nerd I was before into a Popular. If you got the chance to reinvent yourself, wouldn't you?"

"No." he admitted.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because, when Arialla died, it changed me. I didn't care about what people thought about me anymore. And I still don't. I only care what you think of me." he pushed his big rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose where it had been falling.

He took a deep breath. Suddenly, he had his arms around my waist, and was hoisting me up into his arms bridal style. He carried me out into the pouring rain. I clutched his shoulder with one hand and the Black Magic Rose with the other, shuddering as the raindrops turned icy cold on my skin.

"Cold?" he asked.

"Just a little."

"I got you." he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. My head swam drunkenly. My eyes drooped closed, stars flying past the vision in my eyelids.

I guess he was slippery, because a second later, he dropped me into the flower bed below. I looked up at him. He stood over me and smiled. I loved his smile. The way it was a little lopsided and goofy, and always made my heart skip a beat.

"Oops." he said. He knelt down in front of me and held out his hand for me. I grabbed hold of it and pulled him down beside me. He laughed and settled down close to me.

Just as he did, the rain stopped. It was weird, one moment; the heavens were giving us everything they'd had. The next moment, the skies were pretty well clear, with a big double rainbow spreading all the way across the blue sky.

"It's like it's just for us." Austin whispered.

"Yeah. I kind of like things just for us." I whispered back. I noticed his hand was still in mine. I didn't try to move it.

I ran my other hand through my sopping wet, already curling insanely hair. "We should probably go home."

"Can't we just stay for a little while longer?" He complained.

I took a deep breath and turned on my side, curling up really close to him. "I guess. Sarah didn't say what time I had to be home."

"Sarah?"

"My brother's wife. The lady you met in the hospital. She and Tom are my guardians since my parents died."

"Ah. So you can stay?"

"I guess." I buried my head in his chest. His arms went around me, warming me.

"Yes!"

Ω

I was jostled awake some time later by a shake from Austin. I blinked up at him, bleary eyed. "What?"

"It's time for us to go home." he said.

"Why, I already went home!" I complained. I clamped my eyes shut again.

"Come on, Ally. It's getting late." he nudged my leg with his foot.

"Nooo!" I whined. All of a sudden, I was swept off my little "_bed_" and into Austin's arms once more. I still kept my eyes shut; since Austin had woken me up at _seven am._, I was a little tired. He started walking away somewhere. "Wait. My flower."

He stopped and turned around. I felt him bend down and pick something up. I felt my flower being plopped in my lap and Austin continue on. A minute later, I peeled my eyes open and found myself staring at Austin looking forward, his eyes set determinedly forward.

"Why are you carrying me?" I asked.

"You were still asleep. I didn't want to wake you." he didn't look at me.

"Well, I can walk for myself." I said. He chuckled and let me down. I walked beside him for a while, just smiling down at my rose. "Where did you find these?"

"I told you, they were Ari's favourite. Mom and dad used to get them for her all the time. From this little florist, owned by a family friend. So I went there. You know, there's this old myth about the Black Magic Rose."

"Really?" I said. He nodded.

"They say when Lucifer fell from heaven, along with his army of dark angels, each one of them wore a blood red rose over their hearts. When Lucifer fell, God slit his throat as a punishment to set him apart from the other dark angels. The blood of Lucifer touched the blood red rose over his heart, and turned the rose dark as his blood. As he fell, the rose slipped from his heart and fell down to the earth. Humans found it, and called the dark rose a Black Magic Rose." **[1]**

"That's fascinating." I breathed.

"Yeah, it's a pretty interesting fairytale." he smiled. "Just fiction, though."

"You don't believe in those fairytales?" I looked at him.

"Of course not. They're just fiction." he looked at me.

"Not even the ones where the princess is saved by the dashing prince?"

"Well, now that's different. Those are purely fact. No fairytale at all." he winked at me.

"Well, there's certainly no fairytale in your ego." I giggled.

"Ouch." he held his hand over his heart. "That hurts, Ally. That really hurts."

I laughed at him and looked back down to the Black Magic Rose. I sniffed it cautiously. It smelled like sweet roses and summertime. "Well, _I_ think fairytales are real. All that happily ever after…" He just laughed loudly at me. "What?"

"You. You're so cute and innocent and tiny. It's adorable." he squeezed my hand. I blushed and buried my sights in the dark rose.

I stopped and stood on my tip toes to kiss his cheek lightly. "I'm not the only one who's cute here." I said.

He winked at me, and then fell silent again. After a few minutes, he spoke again. "So…do you have plans tonight?"

I raked my brain for a minute. "Mmm…nope. Why?"

"I wanted to do something tonight. Just us. You in?" he asked.

My breath hitched in my throat for a second, rendering me unable to answer. "I—yeah. Sure. How about you come over to my place at seven thirty?"

"Sounds like a plan. What did you has in mind?"

"I've got…a few plans." I didn't have any plans, really. I just wanted to hang out with him again. God, I must really be head over heels (y'know, I never got that phrase) for him.

"Of course."

"Great." I stopped, faced him, and pecked his lips quickly. "It's a date. See you, Moon."

I turned to walk away, down the path to my home, when, or course, Austin stopped me. He caught me by the wrist and pulled me back into him for a warm hug. His arms wrapped around me and squeezed. I buried my face in his chest and smiled at his sexy, sexy scent; a fresh summer breeze.

He pulled away and held my cheeks with his hands.

"It's just a face." I said. "Let it go."

"I know, I…you just looked so beautiful." he said. My face reddened. "I guess I just wanted a last look."

"Well, then save it for tonight." I said. "Seven thirty."

"Seven thirty." he nodded. He let go of my face and smiled in a very much nerdy way. He leaned down and pecked my cheek, and turned down the path perpendicular to the one I had to go down. I watched him walk into the thick trees until his silhouette disappeared. I smiled after him and walked down my path, whistling the song that seemed to be stuck in my head for the past three weeks, _If I Only Had A Brain_ from _The Wizard Of Oz_.

* * *

**A/N:**

**[1]: This isn't actually a legitimate myth, just something I made up on the spot. But if you choose to think it's real, fine. To each his own. **

* * *

**So, I know it's a little sad that Ari committed suicide, but people do feel like that. They just think that they are so incredibly useless that they don't deserve to live. But that's not true. Everyone has a place on this earth, and everyone has people who love them. So don't you guys ever forget that you have worth, okay? If to no one else, then at least to me. I love the fact that you guys are here, reading this. Each and every one of you have worth to me. Thanks.**

**Also, I won't be able to update for the next few weeks. Exams are coming up, and so is EQAO, so _yay for me!_ Sorry, but if I don't keep my grades up, my parents'll give me heck for "spending too much time writing, and not enough time studying". Ridiculous. I just have my priorities straight. **

**Thanks for reading, and please review! Also, if you hadn't noticed, why does Ally keep whistling that song? Well, I wonder why...I seriously do, I haven't written that part yet. Review!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen: Pants & Pokémon

* * *

At 7:29 exactly, I sat on the counter of the Sonic Boom, waiting for Austin. At 7:30 exactly, the front door shook with a knock. I smiled and hopped off the counter. I walked over to the counter and opened the door. He immediately swept me into a hug.

"So what are we doing tonight?" he asked.

"We," I pulled away and led him over to the metal staircase at the other end of the room. "Are hanging out in my practice room."

"You have a practice room?" he asked. I stayed quiet and led him up the stairs. We walked into the dully painted room, and I shut the door behind us.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"I told you. It's my practice room. My dad owned the Sonic Boom. When I was five, I started playing music, and he gave me this old storage room so I could practice." I looked around the room. There were boxes piling at the walls, and various instruments filing the room. "It's not much, but it's my home away from home."

He sat down on the bench of the old, battered piano and looked at me. "So you practice music here?"

"More like write music and daydream." I sat down beside him, closer than I thought I would have.

"Can I hear some?" he turned and faced the keys.

"Haven't you already?" but still, I turned to the keys and set my fingers on them lightly. I started with the song he'd heard before, Double Take.

At the end, I took my fingers off the keys and looked at him. "I like it. But you gotta speed it up. Put in some major keys, not just minors." he set his fingers on the keys and played the same notes I had played, but faster, and in more major keys. He started to sing, too, which certainly surprised me.

"_You don't know, know, know  
My name, name, name,  
I'm gonna make, make, make  
'Em do a double take…_"

I loved how my lyrics sounded coming out of his mouth. The guy could sing, and I mean SING. He was amazing. He seemed to make the lyrics come to life.

When he finished, he looked at me expectantly.

"That's…that's _amazing_, Austin. How did you learn that? And I thought my version was good!" I really did like the sped up version.

"Your version was amazing." he slung his arm around my shoulder. "But if you want this to go viral, hip hop is always the best choice."

"Viral?" I asked.

"Just go with it. Trust me, m'kay?" he said. I nodded. That boy was fifty different shades of peculiar. Okay, is it just me, or did that metaphor sound totally country? "Unless it's this." he smiled maniacally and stood. He walked over to the corner of the practice room, where a colourful display of acoustic guitars was set up. He took one and strapped it over his strong shoulder. Not that I noticed. Okay, I noticed.

He strummed the first note, and started playing.

**(**Austin: **Bold** || Ally: _Italics_ || Both: _**Bold and Italics**_**)**

"**The day I, first met you, you told me, you'll never fall in love.**" he flashed a smile and continued on. "**But now that I get you, I know fear is what it really was. Now here we are, so close yet so far. Haven't I passed the test? When will you realize baby, I'm not like the rest?**"

At the chorus, I joined in. "_**Don't wanna break your heart. Wanna give your heart a break. I know you're scared it's wrong, like you might make a mistake.**_"

I turned around to the piano and played the chords along with Austin. "**There's just one life to live, and there's no time to wait, to waste.**" Austin sang on his own.

"_**So let me give your heart a break, give your heart a break. Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break.**_" It was amazing how we sounded together. Our voices seemed to meld together to create one super-voice.

"_Oh yeah, yeah._" I sang a note I didn't even know my vocal chords could hit.

"**On Sunday you went home alone; there were tears in your eyes.**" Austin pouted his lip a bit as he sang, making me giggle.

"_I called your cell phone, my love, but you did not reply._" I shook my head.

"**The world is ours if we want it, we can take it if you just take my hand.**" Austin held his hand out to me, jokingly, before returning to his guitar. "**There's no turning back now.**" I heard his voice pick up, like he was preparing for something.

"_Baby, try to understand!_" my voice burst into full potential right then, exploding with power I didn't know I had.

"_**Don't wanna break your heart, wanna give your heart a break. I know you're scared it's wrong, like you might make a mistake.**_" Our voices melded together once again.

"_There's just one life to live, and there's no time to wait, to waste_." I cringed a bit at the loop in my voice, but Austin just ushered me to keep playing.

"_**So let me give your heart a break, give your heart a break. Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break.**_" Ah, harmonies. They truly are beautiful things.

"**There's just so much you can take. Give your heart a break. Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break. Oh yeah, yeah.**" Austin sang as he sat down on the piano bench beside me.

"_When your lips are on my lips, and our hearts beat as one. But you slip out of my fingertips. Every time you run, whoa-oh-whoa-oh-oh._" I leaned closer to him and played the keys I didn't even know I knew. Austin stopped playing his guitar momentarily and hugged me from behind.

"**Don't wanna break your heart, wanna give your heart a break. I know you're scared it's wrong,**" Austin took that line. He returned to his guitar.

"_Like you might make a mistake._" I jumped in.

"_**There's just one life to live, and there's no time to wait, to waste.**_" I leaned back and sang along to Austin. He looked at me and winked the way he does oh so smoothly.

"**So let me give your heart a break.**" He threw his head back and over exaggerated his facial expressions.

"_(Let me give your heart a break)._" I echoed.

"**'Cause you've been hurt before, I can see it in your eyes. You try to smile it away, some things you can't disguise.**" His voice failed a bit on one of the notes, but I knew enough about the song that that was supposed to happen.

"_Don't wanna break your heart. Maybe, I can ease the ache, the ache._"

"_**So let me give your heart a break, give your heart a break. Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break.**_"

"**There's just so much you can take. Give your heart a break. Let me give your heart a break.**"

"_(Your heart)_" I echoed once again.

"**Your heart a break.**"

_"(A break)"_ "_Oh yeah, yeah._"

"**The day I first met you, you told me you'd never fall in love.**" **[1]**

He stopped playing and took a deep breath. I took a deep breath along with him, practically gasping for air. "Ironic you'd choose that song." I said.

"You remember that day, too?" he asked. He took off his guitar and set it down against the wall.

"Of course." I stood from the piano and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "Every time I close my eyes."

Austin put his hands on my arms, sending fire through my veins. He moved his face close to mine, stopping when his lips were centimeters from mine. I felt his breath tickle my skin. A shiver ran up my spine, which didn't help the queasiness in the pit of my stomach. "Every time I close my eyes, I see it, too." he whispered. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. He was so _close_. My mind kept screaming, _kiss me already, you fool!_ His arms went around my waist, and he pulled my body closer to his, until we were pressed together. His lips were then only a few millimeters away then, just taunting me into insanity.

"Ally, Ally, Allyson." he said under his breath, and then closed the mediocre gap between us. I sucked in a breath. He smiled against my lips, and then pulled away, still smiling slightly. His face was still close, only a centimeter away. My heart pounded against my ribcage hard. I curled in my bare toes and looked deep into his eyes. They were such a doe brown, and practically fathomless. His lips brushed against mine again.

"Now, why do I love doing that so much?" he murmured.

"Because I'm beautiful." I murmured back. I leaned up a few millimeters, and was just about to kiss him again, when my phone beeped. "Dammit." I muttered. I unwrapped myself from him and moved over to my phone. I clicked off the alarm and moved over to the TV in the corner of the room. I clicked it on. I sat down and patted the couch beside me. Austin sat down, slinging his arm around me again.

"What are we watching?" he asked.

"You'll see." I smiled maliciously. The opening scene came on, and I directed my attention to the man and woman on the screen running from robots.

"What are they running from?" he asked.

"They're called Daleks. They're aliens." I answered. "Now watch."

The man pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and turned to the Daleks. The Daleks knocked him down and loomed over him. Then the opening theme came on.

"Dr. Who?" Austin raised his eyebrows at me.

"Don't judge. It's an amazing show. One of the most famous shows ever." I defended the show. "Just watch."

"fine." he turned back to the Daleks.

Ω

Throughout the hour, Austin annoyed me with countless questions about The Doctor and the TARDIS and Rose. I gave up trying to explain the show to him halfway through. I settled for curling up really close to him and nuzzling my face in his neck. I gently kissed his jawline and turned back to the show. His lips pressed against the side of my face, making me giggle. I tried to focus on The Doctor, but with his closeness, it was a lost cause. His arms hugged around me, and twisted, until I was laying on the couch flat with him on top of me. I hugged him close and buried my head in his chest.

"Best date ever." I said.

"Just wait." he said, and twisted again. Sadly, this toppled us over the edge of the cushions, onto the ground. We landed on our sides idea and curled up close to each other; closer than we had been before.

"I like you." I said.

"I like you more." he said back.

"Not possible." I kissed his lips, gently at first, and then it gained more intensity. He ran his hands through my hair and mussed it up. I didn't think it was possible for two people to be that close, but somehow, we were even closer. I ran my hands under his shirt and felt his muscular abs.

A minute later, we were still entangled. We had stopped kissing a while ago, but we stayed close. I smiled against his warm body.

"So what else are we doing tonight?" Austin stroked my hair.

"I don't know. We've already missed the most important parts of Doctor Who, so that's out."

"What's his name, anyways?"

"No one knows. That's why he's Doctor _Who_."

"Ah. Makes sense. Wait, I have an idea!" he unwrapped himself from me and sat back on the couch. He turned the channel to one I didn't recognize, and patted the couch beside him. I sat down beside him. I looked at the TV, which sported an array of flashing color, anime, and strange animal-like creatures with big anime eyes. They seemed self centered, really. All they said was their own name.

"So what are we watching now?" I asked when I finally gave up trying to guess.

"Pokémon." he told me.

"Pokémon? Really?" I raised my eyebrows.

Then the theme song came on, which only supported my theory of Austin behind a total nerd, as he started singing along.

"_I wanna be the very best,  
Like no one was before!  
To catch them is my real test!  
To train them is my cause!_  
_I will travel across the land,  
Searching far and wide,  
Each Pokémon to understand,  
The power that's inside!  
_(Gotta catch 'em all)_  
It's you and me;  
I know it's my destiny,  
Pokémon!  
You're my best friend,  
In a world we must defend…" _**[2]**

Even when he was singing along to what seemed to be a children's TV show, his voice was still astounding.

"You are such a nerd." I shook my head.

"Hey, don't be hating on the nerd population. We could very well rise up and give wedgies to everyone who gave us one!" he said, then turned back to the cartoons. "Ooh, this is a special one!" he sounded like a little kid on Christmas.

I shook my head and turned to the screen. A giant St. Bernard-looking dog was bounding around mountains and this big ice palace, roaring.

"Who's that?"

"Entei. He's the legendary fire-type Pokémon." he told me.

I focused on the screen and the obscene amounts of animal cruelty in the show. After a few minutes, the show cut to commercial and Austin turned to me. "So. Whatd'ya think?"

"It's pretty good. A lot of animal cruelty, but all in all, a good show." I said. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me. I settled back into him. That way was becoming natural to us, making it seem like we'd been sitting like that for years. "And why do they keep saying their names over and over?"

"That's just what they do. Like how Doctor Seuss always talks in rhymes. It's just the way it is."

"Well Doctor Seuss has the charm, while Pokémon just do harm. Doctor Who has a Sonic Screwdriver, and mad skills like MacGuiver. Why must Pokémon fight in such a way they do? And why do they keep making episodes anew? I'd bet on my book, if that's all it took, to prove that Doctor Who is a better show. I mean, it has had a _way_ better go." I said.

"Okay, I know I should be offended, but _mad rhyming skills!_" he said.

"You know it." I held my hand out, which he high-fived.

We turned back to Entei battling a small, yellow mouse-like Pokémon that seemed to have absolutely no chance. The mouse was wining. Go figure.

I couldn't help but still notice how close he was, and how he didn't seem to think anything of it. I wondered if he felt the same tinkling lightning where his arm touched mine. And whenever I laughed, did his heart flip flop the same way? My mind turned to the events of earlier that day in the graveyard, and what he had said as the rain pelted us. _"Dammit, Ally! Are really that daft? I'm crazy about you! Crazier than I've ever been about anyone in my life! I can see myself growing up, and you're always there, right beside me, with your tiny little hand in mine, taking it all in with me!"_

Well, I guessed there was my answer. But it didn't answer whether or not he felt the same things I did when he was close, or looking at me, or on my mind, or, y'know, even alive.

I realized I had slipped into a little "_trance_" of sorts, and had been staring aimlessly at Austin for the past minute and a half.

"You're totally checking me out." He said without looking away from Pokémon.

"Am not!" I said.

"Are too. And apparently very defensive."

"You are a piece of work, Austin Moon."

"And you are a fine piece of woman, Allyson Dawson."

My cheeks flushed bright red at the *_ehem_* _compliment_. At least, I think it was a compliment. "Um…thank you?"

"You should be gracious. I don't call people beautiful left right and center." he scolded me.

"Oh, is that what you call it?"

"Well, of course. You're beautiful, and, as an angel, it is my job to tell the truth. Therefore, you are beautiful."

"Are you just trying to get in my pants?" I looked down at my skirt. "That is—metaphorically. I'm wearing a pair of metaphoric pants that you may or may not be trying to get into."

Austin shook with laughter. "Please, this isn't The Secret Life Of The American Teenager **[3]**. Not everything revolves around sex. I just happen to think you're beautiful."

"Good. Well, I think you're beautiful, too."

"Wow, thanks."

"Erm, _handsome_. I swear I meant handsome. It just didn't come out righ—oh, shut up." I turned back to the TV and tried to ignore his shakes of laughter. Once again, tying to ignore Austin was like trying to poop rainbows like Nyan Cat. A lost cause. I settled on talking. That always seemed to make me ignore his eyes, or his hair, or anything else about him for that matter. "When did you learn to play _Give Your Heart A Break_?"

He blew out a breath, trying to remember. "About a month ago now. I've always made covers of different songs. _Party Rock Anthem_, _Lean On Me_, _Forever Young_, that sort of stuff. I love music. I'm absolute shit at writing it, but I love to sing it."

"Ah." I said. "I'm the exact opposite. I love music, and god do I love writing it, and singing it too, i guess. But not in front of people. Never ever never in front of people."

"Never ever never?" he repeated in a sort of childlike voice. I shook my head. "But you sang in front of me."

"Well, yeah, but that's different. You're not people, you're Austin. It doesn't count."

He snorted. "Wow. You are just a_mazing _at complimenting, aren't you?"

"Hey, it's a tough talent to harness, but I do alright." I shrugged.

"Oh, yes. You are certainly masterful in the art of compliments." He said.

"Oh, shut up, you." I turned back to the TV, where, yet again, animals were stuck in cock fights forced upon them by their '_trainers'_.

We stayed silent for the rest of the episode, leaning against one another, shoulder to shoulder. We really didn't need to stray from that position. We were still touching, but not too much that I would get claustrophobic or germaphobic. We had the perfect angle to talk to each other's faces, and watch the TV at the same time. It was pretty much the optimum position for a TV date. At least, _I_ considered it a date, but I've never actually been an expert on what does and does not qualify as a date.

Once the episode was finished, Austin clicked off the TV and turned his head to me. "I don't want to go back to Anubis." He said.

My mood immediately dropped. I had forgotten that, since we had spent most of our time in Miami in Miami General Hospital, our vacation away from school was almost over. We had to be back on a plane tomorrow. "Me either." I frowned.

"Are you scared to get back on a plane?" he asked.

"No. I'm scared of plenty of things. Dying, performing, spiders, heights, ninjas, guns, unicorns, needles–" I started listing off things I was afraid of.

"Wait, wait, wait, you're scared of _unicorns_?" he said incredulously. "But they're so magical and beautiful and glittery and all that stuff girls like."

"You _do _know I'm not seven, right?" I shot him a look. "And yes unicorns. Their alicorns can cut diamond. I mean, have you even read _Zombies Vs. Unicorns_? **[4] **The Unicorns would totally win that war."

"'_Unicorns Vs. Zombies_'? You've got to be making this up." He shook his head. "Besides, Zombies would win. They would just have to bit, like, a fourth of the population of unicorns, and they would win. It's simple math and common sense. The zombies bite a fourth, and that number keeps multiplying as the unicorns bite their fellow unicorns, and then badda bing, badda boom, zombies have prevailed once again." He reasoned.

"A compelling argument." I nodded. "Completely misguided and wrong, but compelling nonetheless."

"Your justification?"

"Unicorns can cut through diamond; have incredible speed and agility, as well as twice the stamina of your standard horse. They have to run faster than rainbows, leprechauns, and hummingbirds. Like a little zombie could really best them."

"Leprechauns? Okay, now you're just being ridiculous." He shook his head.

"No, no I'm not. Leprechauns are perfectly normal. Just go to Ireland, stand in the middle of a large, empty field in the forest with at least two pieces of solid gold, wait for a bit, and _presto_! Your very own pet leprechaun!"

"I would like to know where you learned to catch a leprechaun from."

"My room gets internet. Don't tell Tom."

"What's in it for me?"

"I…I don't know. What do you like?"

He considered it for a moment before deciding. "Make me pancakes?"

"Deal." I held out my hand, which he shook. "So are you scared of getting on that plane tomorrow?"

"I'm more scared of getting off it. I mean, when we get back to Anubis, what'll happen? W-with us…?" his eyes fell to his Nikes.

"Nothing. Being in a different state doesn't change anything." I found myself saying. It was true. So what New York is in a different part of the country than Florida? Big deal. We could make it through anything as long as we could make it through together. In hindsight, that state of mind would have been perfect a little ways down the road. Too bad I didn't have it then.

* * *

**A/Ns:**

**[1]: Give Your Heart A Break by Demi Lovato  
[2]: Don't judge me on knowing these lyrics. They are iconic to nerds far and wide. Besides, Pokemon is an epic show.  
[3]: That's this show that plays in North America. It's...it's something else entirely. Please never watch it. It will only scar you.  
[4]: I'm not even joking. _Unicorns Vs. Zombies _is an actual book. It's basically famous authors like Scott Westerfeld (Uglies Series), Holly Black (Spiderwick Cronicles), and Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices and Dark Artifices) arguing who would win in a war, unicorns or zombies. Unicorns, in my opinion. **

* * *

**Thanks so much for reading! I just hit eighty reviews, and this story is only halfway done! (no, it's not one of those never-ending sagas, it's just really long).  
A few notes to reviewers:  
Hetheillest: Thanks! And believe me, thise moments are far from over. And I don't plan on making it easy for these two. Mwa ha ha!  
ElaHopesOnFire: Thanks, and there will be WAY more drama when they go back to Anubis. I promise!**

**Thanks so much to everybody who's reading, and please review, or i will attach Sonic Screwdrivers to each and every one of the Daleks, and send them to hunt you down. Imagine, an army of Daleks led by Entei...*shudders* It's frightening. Also, please don't try to catch a leprechaun. They're just trying to live their lives in peace. **

**-KR Blake Ω**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen: Stutters & Spinal Transplants

* * *

I am sitting in a circle of trees, smack dead in the centre, cross legged. I take a deep breath and fold my hands in my lap. I am waiting for something. What, I don't know, but I am waiting for something. I look up at the moon above me. It is full tonight. '_Good_' I think. '_This is perfect. A full moon will help._'

I look into the horizon, over the line of trees. I can see a tall building peeking over the treetops, with sharp spires that scratch the sky. My lips curl into a smile. '_Witchhaven_' I think. I close my eyes and focus. The ground underneath me rumbles.

After a few seconds, I open my eyes again, and I know I have succeeded. I look down at the crumpled figure in front of me. Blood seeps from the figure, making my throat close. '_Why did I do this?_' I think. My heart breaks to see the figure twitch and convulse while spewing thick red liquid I want to pretend is strawberry jello. A sob escapes from my throat. '_Oh, go, why did I do this?_'

I bow my head as tears fall from my eyes. '_This isn't supposed to happen! We're supposed to live happily ever after!_' I lean over and drape my body over the bleeding body. I sob louder. The body slowly stops twitching. I know he has died for the second time, right in front of me.

"_No! You were supposed to live this time!_" I scream. My throat burns from the sobs. I turn the figure over and lean down. I kiss his bloodied lips one last time before I reach to my belt for the knife I know is there. I look down at the dead eyes of the love of my life. I raise the knife and drive it straight through my heart. I wretch and hack in pain. I lean down, and, with my last shreds of strength, kiss his lips as I die.

I fall onto his crumpled figure, dead as he is, staring into his big doe eyes.

* * *

"Ally!" a voice woke me out of my bone chilling slumber. "Time to get up!" I grumbled something under my breath and peeled my eyes open. I could see sun seeping through the gap in my curtain. I squinted against the rays hitting my eyes.

"I'm up!" I yelled at Tom, who was probably tapping his Nikes at the bottom of the hallway, waiting for me to drag myself out of bed.

I threw my sheets off me and stood. I yawned. '_Do I really have to go back?_' I thought. '_Well, at least I'll have three people on my side this time._'

I moved around the room and readied myself. I stripped off my baggy t-shirt and short shorts, and shimmied into a nice flowery skirt and a white V-neck. I ran a hand through my hair, straightening out some of the knots. I looked at myself in the mirror. There were dark half-moons under my eyes. I had stayed up way to late the night before. '_Worth it._' A little voice said in the back of my mind. '_Totally worth it._'

I smiled a bit, remembering the world's best date the night before. Austin and I had stayed up until two am talking and watching old reruns of Spongebob and Power Rangers. By two am, his mom had texted his seven times that it was time for his to go home. He finally pecked my cheek lightly and winked as he walked out of Sonic Boom.

I blew out a breath and walked out of my room, down the hallway where, sure enough, Tom was waiting, tapping his Nikes impatiently. I smiled and shook my head.

"What, were you waiting for a formal invitation?" he snipped.

"Hey, calm down." I said as I walked into the kitchen. "It's not like I've never slept in before."

"I know, but today? You have a plane to catch. I don't want to answer to _That Woman_ if you're late getting back to school again." He cringed at the mention of Truant. I laughed. Even though he would have never admitted it, I knew he was terrified of that woman. I'm pretty sure everyone was afraid of her, with her hawk like eyes and crooked nose. She looked like she was about a bazillion years old.

A few years ago, I had gone home to Miami for March break, and accidentally missed my flight back to New York. Truant had phoned to see where I was, and when Tom said I had missed my flight, she cussed him out, saying he was an irresponsible guardian and he should be ashamed of himself, blah, blah, blah.

"Well, I'm up now. Let me eat my cereal, and then we can go." I grabbed the box of Special K from the cabinet, the milk carton from the fridge, and a bowl and spoon, and sat down at the table beside Sarah. I poured myself a bowl and began munching on the tasty goodness.

Tom sat down in the chair across from me and folded his hands in front of him in a serious manner. He started twiddling his thumbs. I chewed down the rest of my mouthful quickly.

"Out with it." I said.

"What?" Tom blinked, confused.

"You're nervous. Out with it." I folded my arms across my chest.

He let out a breath and ran a hand through his dark hair. "How could you tell?"

I just flicked my eyes to his fingers, which were still twitching, never staying static. "You were twiddling your thumbs. You do that when you're nervous." I said.

Tom glanced from me to Sarah, then back to me. "Oh, just tell her Tom." Sarah said impatiently after several seconds of silence.

"Fine." He muttered something about mothers and ducks and never thinking he'd ever have to be in this situation. He took a deep breath and raised his dark eyes to meet mine. "Sarah – Sarah I-is kind of…well, not so much in the sense that she is not…y'know. Pragfuhuhh." He mumbled the last word, making it impossible to hear.

"What?" I asked.

"Prehunutugh." He mumbled again.

"What?"

"Oh, for the love of god, Tom! Remind me later to recommend you to this friend of mine. He's a doctor specializing in spinal transplants." Sarah snapped. I knew she was only joking around with him, but he looked kind of scared at her sudden snap. "He is trying–and failing miserably, might I add–to tell you I'm pregnant."

My jaw dropped down to the floor. "P-p-p-regn-n-nant?" I stuttered. Shit! I hadn't stuttered in years, and now, all of a sudden, one little word and _bam! _Three months of speech therapy down the drain.

"Oh, god, she's stuttering again." Tom looked at me, concerned. "Ally, Ally look at me." I did. "Focus on your breathing, like they showed you, focus on what you're saying." I nodded and took a deep breath.

"H-how are you…" I couldn't bring myself to say the word. I cleared my throat. "With child?" I finished awkwardly, making Tom laugh.

"Well, Ally, you're a big girl." Sarah said. "You should be able to answer that yourself." I looked at her with ice and turned back to Tom.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"We've been sure for three months, Ally." Tom reached over and took my hand. "Look, I know you've never been sold on Sarah, but I love her. And I'm going to love this baby. Please, just trust us. I know you're going to make an awesome aunt." He squeezed my hand. "Just trust us."

I nodded slowly. I didn't trust my accursed stutter to talk, so all I did was nod. '_Aunt_' the word flashed in my mind, scaring the crap out of me. '_I'm going to be an aunt._'

Ω

I didn't speak the entire ride to Miami airport. I just sat in the back and wrote in my book.

_Dear Diary,_

_Sarah is pregnant. What the hell do I do now? I'm going to be an aunt. I don't know how to be an aunt! I barely know how to be a teenager! My stutter has come back, as well. Crap. Tom said I have to schedule a meeting with Doctor Henri again. I haven't seen him in five years, when my stutter had finally receded and I graduated from speech therapy. Times were much simpler then…_

_And on top of all this, my little 'Austin Problem' has not resolved itself. If anything, it has intensified. The last time I wrote to you, diary, I had said it was all his fault I was unconfident and an Unnecessary and such. Well, it partly still is. Partly. Mostly, though, it's mine. I don't know how to act around this boy. He is something else. I also happen to know how he feels about me, which certainly doesn't help my 'Stuttering Problem'. Why must I have so many problems, dear diary? Is there just something so monumentally wrong with me that the universe just feels obligated to tear me down and out of the world before I become really powerful and __fuck__ screw the world up? Sorry. I don't like using that kind of vulgar language. _

_Okay, so here's the deal. I like him. A lot. Like, _a lot_ a lot. And I don't know how to act around him. Whenever I see him, my heart beats faster, my palms get sweaty, and I can't speak normally. I know, I've got it bad. I hate that I am so weak. And then he had to go and say he was crazy about me. Don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon about that, but it just makes things that much more complicated. Would I love it if we could run towards each other in slow motion through a field of flowers like they do in the movies? Heck yeah, I would! But this isn't a movie. This is real life. I can't write myself out of this one. _

_Could I really have fallen for the notorious Nerd of Anubis, diary? I think I have. But what would Jenna and Bree say? They'd laugh at me for being so weak. But, would I really want to give him up for such a fickle thing as popularity? My brain keeps yelling at me to look at the big picture, to choose Anubis over Austin. But my heart just wants to slap my brain and make me jump into his waiting arms. I know we're not going to live happily ever after, but if there was even a microscopic chance, should I go for it? It's your call, diary. Do I choose to listen to my heart or my brain?_

The car rolled up in front of Miami airport. Tom put the car in park in the drop off lane and turned to me.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I-it's just a plane. Nothing t-to be worried about." I knew he knew I knew he knew I was lying. If that makes sense. I think it does. I took a deep breath. I grabbed the carryon purse from my feet and popped the door open. I took the suitcase out of the trunk. By the time I had managed to pull it out, Tom and Sarah were out of the car and waiting for me. I hugged Tom tightly, not wanting to let go, really. He was my only family. I never wanted to let that go.

I turned to Sarah and hugged her, too, but this one was much more awkward. I pulled away, and cringed as she ruffled my hair. "Be good, kiddo." She said.

"N-not a chance." I said, mentally cursing myself for stuttering. '_Focus on your breathing_' I thought to myself. '_Focus on what you're saying._'

She laughed and wrapped her arm around Tom's middle. I pretended not to take any notice and turned away.

"Love you." I said.

I started walking away, when Tom's voice stopped me. "Forever and always, Pickles."

I stopped dead in my tracks, clutching the handle to my suitcase so hard, my fingers were turning white. I turned back around and wrapped my arms tightly around Tom, like I used to do when I was eight. I buried my head in his shirt and smiled as I caught a whiff of his comforting scent; cinnamon.

"Forever and always, Tom." I said. I felt the pressure building behind my eyes. '_I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry…_' I chided myself. He squeezed me tightly.

"Now go." He said as he pried my skinny arms from around him. "You've got a plane to NYC to catch." I nodded and forced a smile.

"See you in July." I said. And with that, I turned away and walked into Miami airport, clutching my purse close to my chest. I let only a single tear fall from my eye. '_God, this never gets easier_.'

Ω

At ten thirty exactly, I sat in my window seat, watching the runway roll by. The seat next to me was empty, so my purse was sitting there. I could see a familiar blonde head a few rows in front of me. I smiled at the back of his head and pulled out my phone. I called up his number and punched in a message.

**(**Austin's texts: **Bold **|| Ally's texts: _Italics_**)**

_I wanna be the very best!_

**Like no one ever was!**

**You so liked Pokémon.**

I laughed out loud at that. An old lady sitting in front of me turned around and shot me an evil look before turning back to her equally as old friend and muttered something about bad grammar, bad manners, and today's insufferable youth.

_It wasn't too bad, I'll give you that. _

**Yes! **

_I gotta go. The stewardess is giving me dirty looks. See you on the flip. _

**Miss you *less than three***

My heart skipped a beat as I read that. '_Less than three. What's less than three?_' I thought for a moment before I figured it out. Heart.

I quickly tucked my iPhone into my purse and pulled out my book and a pen. I scribbled something into the bottom of the page, right under my entry from the car ride.

_My heart. Definitely my heart._

* * *

**Ohh, what was with that creepy dream in the beginning? And Sarah being pregnant? Dramarama in Miami Ville! I'm sorry, i don't know why I typed that. Stay tuned in a few weeks when I don't have exams to find out what happens next with our smitten-as-lovesick-kittens protagonists!  
A few notes to reviewers:  
**

**Shannon: Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone. You do realize you spelled Pokemon wrong, right?  
x-xLost-Chickx-x: Thank you! I'm glad you feel that way!  
DisneychannelwatcherWow: Keep reading, you will soon find out...  
Maha: _COOKIE! _Thanks! Keep reading!  
Amazing girl: Calm down. When he calls her Pretty Girl in the first chapter, it's meant to be an insult, like if he was calling her prissy or a b***h. The yelling in the first chapter is kind of their denial that they are totally, completely, hopelessly in love with each other. It's not supposed to be like them in the show, really. I morphed them into my own twisted image of awesome people. This story is going to take a while to end. I'm used to writing, like, 50, 000 word novels, so I tend to make my stories long and detailed. I like to get the whole story in. And the kissing is exactly what you signed up for when you clicked a story rated T. Thanks!**

**Thanks for reading, and sorry the last chapter was so long, I just couldn't decide when to end it. Keep reading, and keep reviewing. I'm almost at 100! This is the most popular story I've ever had! You guys are FREAKING AWESOME! **

**-KR Blake Ω**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen: Dreams & Digimon

* * *

I am lying on grass, looking up at the stars. They seem farther away than usual, though, like I'm looking at them through a tall glass. I can feel that my breath is hitched in my throat.

Suddenly, I feel hands on my shoulders, shaking me.

"Ally!" a slightly muffled voice calls to me. "Ally, don't give up! Keep fighting it!"

My eyes roll into in to the backs of my head before returning seconds later. I can feel myself fighting to say conscious–to stay alive, even. I blink and try and focus on who is shaking me. I find a familiar mop of blonde hair.

I reach my hand up to him. It is shaking, and ghostly white. He catches hold of my hand and intertwines his fingers in mine. He kisses my hand gently. "Don't die Ally. Please don't die." He whispers.

'_Die?_' I wonder what he is talking about, when I catch sight of my upper arm. It is covered in blood. My eyes travel to my stomach, and I can see even more blood, pooling over my ribs. I open my mouth to say something, when he shushes me.

"Don't. Don't say anything. Just…don't leave me." he says. He bows his head and touches my stomach, making his hair stick to his head with crimson blood. "I love you." He says.

I let my head fall back. My eyes fall to the sky, looking at the stars. "I…" I say slowly in a raspy voice. "I can't see the stars." I say. "I'm scared."

"Don't be." He says. "Don't be scared. Just hold on." He squeezes my hand.

I close my eyes and open them again. I can see the stars once more. And in those stars, I can see the face of a certain blonde haired boy, winking at me. Beside him are the words, '_You two were written in the stars_'. I take one last raspy, laboured breath and watch the face made of stars fade away. '_Written in the stars…_'

* * *

I jolted awake in a cold sweat. I blinked in the sunlight, still shaken by the dream. '_Written in the stars…_ _well, what in the freaking hell does that mean?_' I looked out the window beside me, at the clouds and blue, blue sky spanning all around the plane. I couldn't help but think that the stars were somewhere above me, maybe even hundreds of Astronomical Units away, writing the history of the world in their own twisted way, screwing us all over.

Ω

Six hours later, the plane touched down on the runway at JFK airport. I moved around the cabin, collecting my luggage and such. I walked down the aisle and stood beside Austin, who was taking his suitcase down from the overhead compartment.

"Ready to go back?" he asked.

"Hell no." I said. I slipped my hand into his. He looked at me, surprised. "What? Are your hands 'your special space'?"

"No, but you've never actually, y'know," He wiggled his hand in mine. "In public."

"Does it scare you?" I gasped playfully. "Is wittle Austie afwaid of Awwy's wittle hand?" I said in a fake baby voice.

"Well, it _is _surprisingly small." He noted. I smiled up at him and stuck my tongue out. He laughed, shaking his head. "But I'm serious. Is this…permanent-kinda-thing-I don't know-I'm nervous."

"You are…I don't even know." I shook my head. We walked through the plane, bumping into people. I saw the two old ladies that had scoffed at me six hours earlier for giggling. I shot them evil looks and continued to follow Austin. They scoffed again at the back of my head. I resisted the strong urge to turn around and slap them something ugly. (Okay, why do all my metaphors and saying sound western? I'm from Miami, and I am most certainly not a cowgirl!)

We walked off the plane and past the ticket ladies.

"Ally Dawson, how the hell are you not dead!" a girl's voice yelled behind me. I quickly slipped my hand from Austin's as a small, yet forceful body tackled me from behind, knocking me onto the floor. I pushed the girl off me, giggling, and turned to her.

Her blonde hair laid pencil straight over her shoulders as always. "How am I not dead yet?" I scoffed. "Wow. Thanks, Jenna."

"You know what I mean!" she punched me in the arm, and then looked up at Austin, staring at us questioningly. "Get out of here, Nerd." He shook his head and walked on. Jenna turned back to me. "Bree texted me three days ago that she saw a news broadcast about a plane going down over North Miami Beach."

"Yeah, my plane went down." I pushed off the ground and brushed lint off my skirt. "I'm fine. Only got to spend a day and a half with the fam bam, though. Spent the rest in the hospital." I picked up my fallen purse and suitcase. I followed Jenna through the crowded airport, dodging hundreds of people.

"Why were you walking with that Unnecessary?" Jenna asked. I mentally cursed and racked my brain for a plausible excuse.

"He just came up to me and started following me. The creep." I said. She nodded in agreement. I felt bad about saying those things about him, but I couldn't just stop in the middle of the airport, burst into song, and say, "_Our love is like a wildfire, Jenna. Be prepared, 'cause he ain't going nowhere!_" No. I am no fool.

"I missed you, Ally." Jenna wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

"Missed you, too, Jenza Benz." I said.

Ω

Jenna and I climbed into the shuttle car back to Anubis. Michal **[1]**, the school's groundskeeper, sat in the front seat, behind the wheel, waiting impatiently. Michal was an alright looking guy, I guess. He was about twenty nine, with jet black hair and dark brown eyes that blended into the black pupils. They really shouldn't have complimented his Irish skin tone, but in a weird way, they did.

"Hola, Michal." Jenna said to him. He winked in the rear view mirror as we sat down, making Jenna blush slightly. Jenna had a slight crush on him. Even though she was perfectly happy with Jack-Ass-Jack, Michal was her "If I could have anyone" crush.

We sat in the shuttle bus for a few minutes, talking aimlessly about nothing in particular. Jenna had a knack for talking. After the few minutes, the shuttle door opened, and Austin, Dez and Trish climbed in and sat in the back of the bus, far away from Jenna and me. As Austin walked past, Jenna moved out her foot and tripped him.

"Go back to the nuthouse, bitch." He muttered, standing up.

"Go back to the whorehouse, Loser. It's the only place you'll ever get some." She shot back. I faked a laugh, feeling my gut sink with guilt.

As soon as Austin sat down in the back of the bus, I pulled out my phone.

**(**Austin's texts: **Bold** || Ally's texts: _Italics_**)**

_Sorry about Jenna. _

**I take it you didn't bother to tell her about your week in Miami?**

_No. She doesn't need to know. I'm sorry, but like hell Anubis is finding out._

**I feel so loved. **

_You know what I mean. Can we just…leave the student body out of us for now? _

**Deal. If you do one thing for me. **

_Oh god, I have to organize your Digimon cards alphabetically, don't I?_

**Okay, Digimon? Really? No one even likes Digimon. **

**I was going to ask you to meet me in the forest tonight at eleven.**

_Let's see. It's…Friday? Sure, I'll come. Same place? _

**You know where. **

_And by the way, you don't have to blackmail me into meeting you anymore. In case you didn't figure it out, I'm pretty much sold on you ;) _

**;)**

I clicked off my phone and slid it into my pocket.

"So who's the dude?" Jenna asked. I looked up at her, taken aback.

"W-what?" Son of a bitch, if I could slap a speech impediment of my choice, I'd choose The Stutter!

"The dude you're texting. I want details, and I want 'em now." She moved closer and looked at me very seriously.

"I-I wasn't –" I tried to say.

"Oh, shove it, Dawson. I've been watching you get high off those texts for the past five minutes. Details. Or I kick." She threatened.

"Fine." I said. "I met him in Miami." A lie. "He's funny, smart, witty, sweet – " all true, and I could have gone on, had Jenna not cut me off.

"Oh, blah, blah, blah, no one cares about his personality, Dawson! Muscle tone, yay or nay?" she said abruptly.

"Yay times infinity." I smiled evilly. The truth.

"I am so happy for you!" she wrapped her arms around me. I couldn't help but laugh. I was pretty happy for me, too. "Hair colour?"

"Sort of a sandy blonde colour. Really hot." True.

"Eyes?"

"The biggest doe eyes. Hazel." True.

"Style?"

"Ripped jeans and t-shirts."

"Ohh!" she squealed. "That spells bad boy all over!" A lie. I settled back into my seat and smiled to myself. "What's his name?" son of a bitch.

"H-his name?" I said shyly.

"Yeah. His name. What's the harm, I don't know him." She shrugged.

I chose the first name that came to mind. Well, the second, actually. The first one was '_Austin_'. "Ben."

"Oh." She said in a flat voice. "Well, that's not much of a bad boy name. But I guess he works it."

"Oh, totally." I nodded.

Ω

I walked arm in arm with Jenna through the front doors of Anubis (after she blew a kiss to Michal), smiling, broad and fake. Bree was waiting by the door for us, and the second she saw us, tackled us onto the ground in a group hug.

"This week absolutely sucked, you guys!" she said loudly, almost yelling at us. "Between ignoring the advances of stupid minor niners – both sexes, bee-tee-dubs **[2]**– and worrying about Ally, this was totes the worst week of my life!"

"Guys, I'll tell you all about my trip in the Death Plane later, but please get off. People will start thinking we're closer than friends." I said, struggling to push Bree off me.

Bree stood up and held a hand out for me. I took it, letting her pull me up. We three walked all in a line, sauntering down the halls of Anubis, sashaying our hips like we'd been doing for the past six years. Though, there were a few differences. One of us was in like with a nerd, one of us kept flashing back to the day she first met the nerd in question, and two of us were completely oblivious.

Ω

"So tell me again how you met Ben." Bree said, dangling her feet off the edge of Jenna's bed. Her arms were behind her head, supporting her.

I sighed. I had already told her twice the made up story of how I met my very own Romeo, _Ben_. "I was walking along Miami Beach at sunset, not really going anywhere. Out of nowhere, a Frisbee hit me in the side of the head. I fell onto the ground, into the surf of the ocean. Ben ran over to see if I was dead or not. He helped me up, but I guess I was nervous because a second later, we were both in the surf, laughing. And they rest, as they say, is history. At least, in my phone's history." I shrugged.

Bree sighed. "Again?"

"No." I said.

"Oh, rejected!" Jenna hooted from her desk chair. She snapped her fingers and hooted again. Bree stuck her tongue out at Jenna.

"Guys, please. Save the tongue for later." I shook with laughter. They giggled along with me and winked at each other.

Suddenly, my phone beeped in my pocket, making me jump.

"Oh, is it Ben?" Bree bounced up and down excitedly on the bed.

"No, it's Tom." I looked at my phone. "**Going to the Obstetrician [3] at 4. Call you as soon as we get back. Love you forever and always –Tom**"

"What'd he say?" Jenna eyed me.

"T-to see if I was off the plane yet." I lied, fairly easily. I texted back quickly. "**Can't wait. Give Sarah my sort of best. Love you forever and always –Ally**" "I gotta go." I slipped my phone back into my pocket. "See you guys tomorrow?"

"Later." They chorused and went on chattering aimlessly. I walked out of the room, down the hall to 216.

I took out my key, and unlocked the wooden door. It creaked open after a week of not being opened. I walked in, locking the door behind me, and looked around the room. It was perfectly neat, just as I had left it. My laptop sat on my desk, surrounded symmetrical walls of books, both paperback and hardcover. My pillow was placed on top of my neatly made covers in a very purposeful manor. Yeah, I _may _have OCD.

I sat down on my bed, messing up the covers and pillows. I pulled out my book and touched my pen tip to the page.

_Dear Diary,_

_I don't know how I'm going to pull off pretending I don't like Austin. I asked him to keep Us on the D.L. But really? I kind of want people to know. Kind of. I think. I don't know! I just don't think people would leave us alone. I like the fact that we are just us, no one else. Also, I know this is incredibly cliché, and I hate myself for it, what would people say. He's just him, and I'm…well, I'm a popular. God, I hate that. _

_And now I'm just sitting here, staring at a pretty much blank page, only thinking about him. I'm so freaking weak. Check back in later, after my meeting with him. _

_P.S. Sarah's going to the Obstetrician. I really didn't need to know that, but sadly, I do. That just heaps another Problem on, as well as another lie to Jenna and Bree. God, I think I feel a headache on. _

I set my book down and rubbed my temples. I did indeed have a headache coming on. Well, I guess it's nice to be back.

* * *

**A/Ns:**

**[1]: I don't know why, but I never spell my character's names normally. I swear my kids are going to be named Jac7e Danger (It's a silent '7') and Çam (a soft 'C', so it sounds like 'Sam'). And yes, Jac7e's middle name will be Danger.  
[2]: This is how girls at my school say B.T.W., or By The Way. Annoying? Yes. I am afraid I'm kind of surrounded by idiots.  
[3]: An Obstetrician is a doctor specializing in the pre-and-post natal periods. Basically, a fetus and baby doctor. **

**I know, it's really short, and kind of useless, but I have exams next week, and I want to get at least one chapter in before I go off the radar for the next week and a half. Also, I think I'm going to always add Ally's dreams in. I love it. But the dreams are almost always demented and sick and sadistic. I don't know why. My dreams are always like that. In fact, in The Three Levels of reality, the main character always sees her dreams (which are just like Ally's) and says "_So I have to piss myself every night because some God has a crush on me?_" (long story). And, THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS OUT THERE! I am over 100 reviews! Shit yeah! A few notes:**

**Amazing girl: I know. I was answering your questions. Thanks!  
Maha: As this chapter says, she doesn't want people in her business. And they're polar opposites. People just wouldn't see it.  
**

**Thanks again, y'all! Wow. I sound so country. **

**-KR Blake Ω**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter sixteen: Global Warming & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

* * *

I sat at my desk for the rest of the day, surfing the web pretty well aimlessly. Around eleven, I came across a newspaper article from an old issue of the Miami Reader I really could have gone without reading.

SIXTEEN YEAR OLD FOUND DEAD AT LOCAL POOL

On July 12th 2009, a young girl was found dead at Miami Community Center pool. The police had been informed of the girl's absence from home by her family. She was found tethered to the bottom by a string of belts, pronounced dead on scene. It is not known how long she was submerged, but her family says she had not come back home for three days previous.  
The girl was identified as Arialla Jocelyn Moon, 16, by her younger brother, Austin, 13. The young boy was also the one to find Arialla's note to her family she wrote before she died. The note confirmed that she had in fact committed suicide.  
When interviewed, Austin told The Reader that his sister had always been a happy girl. He said that he couldn't think of anything to indicate that Arialla would be depressed and suicidal. He said, "She…she was amazing. She had everything. She was the popular girl, the most loved. I just can't think of why she would want to die."  
Arialla's note to her family said, quote "I can't take it anymore. I love you; I'll always love you. But this life of mine isn't worth it. I'm sorry." Unquote. The next part of the note was addressed specifically to her brother, saying "Austin, don't pretend you're something you're not. Look at me. It's not worth it. Always be you, and you'll be happy forever."

The rest of the article talked about Ari's funeral, and what psychiatrists said about the effect of being popular. I didn't read anything past "_Always be you, and you'll be happy forever…_"

My eyes flitted to the picture of Arialla beside the article. She was shockingly similar to her brother; unnervingly similar, really. They had the same hazel eyes, and the same high cheekbones, and the same curvature in their smiles. The only difference between them was that Arialla had curly, glossy, pitch black hair. It wasn't the type of colour you could fake either; it was a natural colour. The picture looked like it was a student ID picture, taken when she looked about fifteen, sixteenish.

My hands shook on the keyboard of my laptop as I sat there. Austin had been the one to identify her. That meant…he found her dead before his parents. He was the first one to know.

The most shocking thing about the article was-I remember reading it. It was one of the first days I was home from Anubis that summer. I was still an ignoramus and a rapscallion back then. I didn't really give much thought to the dead girl. I only read it to pass time before I went to Miami Beach for the day. I didn't clue in that the Austin Moon mentioned in the article was the same one from Anubis. Nor did I clue in later that year when he went to therapy sessions with Dr. Henry for half the school year. Like I said – ignoramus and rapscallion.

I felt the pressure build up behind my eyes, and then my eyes burn with tears. I wiped away a few as they fell from my eyes. I sniffled and turned around, away from the computer screen, focusing on a single picture on my wall of dozens of photos. The photo was of Austin and me. We had taken it the night before, in my practice room. I was smiling at the camera, but Austin was looking at me. I hadn't noticed that until I saw the photo on my computer this morning. He was smiling at me, not paying any attention to the camera. I looked so happy in the picture.

I smiled at it. It was the only photo on my walls that wasn't of my family. I turned back to my laptop and checked the time. The clock read 10:30 pm. I sighed and shut off my laptop. I moved over to the wardrobe in the corner of my room. I pulled out a pair of dark skinnies and a plain white V-neck shirt. I quickly shimmied into the clothes and grabbed a hoodie from the back of my desk chair. I grabbed my keys and walked out of 216, locking the door behind me.

I crept down the hallways, sticking to the shadows from the light seeping through the gothic windows. I looked up to the full moon. I had a brief flashback to the dream I had last night. Austin had been dead…

I shivered and shook my head. I pushed forward, through the halls. They were scarily quite. I felt like every step on the carpet sounded like boulders crashing onto concrete. I pushed open the door at the back of the school that lead to the forest.

Wind immediately crashed into me. The cold bit into my exposed face, making me shiver. It didn't feel like June. I pulled up my hood and closed it close around my face as I walked. Occasionally, even though the milky white moon shone brightly overhead, I tripped over logs or twigs or geckos or accursed chipmunks. By the time I made it to the clearing, I had a scrape on my cheek and a splinter in my ankle, where my rainbow ankle socks didn't quite touch the hem of my jeans. And yes, I have rainbow socks. They are like my dirty pleasure. But enough about socks!

I leaned against a pine tree and crossed my arms over my chest. I waited for a few minutes, until I heard the crackle of sticks behind me. I spun around to see Austin standing behind me, smirking as always.

"Digimon?" he raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes, _really_." I said. I pushed off my tree and walked over to him. He wrapped his arms around me tightly. I smiled into his shirt as I caught a whiff of his sweet scent; a fresh summer breeze. I pulled back for a second and smiled at him. He looked so…_Austin_. That's all I got. But he was just like him. His hair was ruffled the way it always is, his smirk was curved in the usual mannerism, and the shirt peeking through his zip up hoodie absolutely screamed Austin. It was a plain black shirt that said in big, white, block letters, "STOP GLOBAL WARMING. IT'S WHAT FREAKING JESUS WOULD DO".

Austin cupped my cheeks in his hands and smiled down at me. I knew what was coming, and I knew I should have been prepared for it, after three weeks. But I wasn't. My face glowed bright red as his face moved closer and closer to mine. I froze in his arms, panicking slightly. I pushed through that and stood on my tip toes to meet my lips with his. And then, it was like the crescendo in the song crashed in my ears.

I smiled against his lips. I couldn't help it really; it was compulsory by now. There was that momentary drop in my stomach I had never felt before – almost like I was falling. Into what, I wasn't all too eager to find out right then. I just wanted to focus on him.

Austin pulled up after a minute and held my face in his hands. It was almost the perfect moment right then. His big doe hazel eyes were almost unreadable in the dark moonlight. Almost. Then he pulled away and bent down behind the nearby tree. For a second, I stopped looking at his eyes and focused on how much he and Arialla looked alike. Their faces both had those soft angles to them, and their eyes were both set in that oh-so-determined way.

Austin stood from behind the tree, holding a wicker picnic basket. He smiled broadly and opened up the basket. He pulled out a small blanket and set it out on the forest floor. I watched as he pulled out two sandwiches, two apples, and large two Iced Capps from Tim Hortons. He set them out in two different places, one on each side of the blanket. He looked up at me, beaming.

"I made you a moonlight picnic." He said happily. "You like romance, right?"

"I – yeah. How'd…?" I sat down on the blanket slowly and looked at him.

"How'd I know you've always wanted a moonlight picnic?" he finished for me, then shrugged. "I kind of guessed. And it was in your book." My gaze turned downright murderous. "Mostly the guessing thing, though." He finished hurriedly.

"Fine." I said. "You live. But only because you did all this for me." I picked up my sandwich and bit into it. "Grilled cheese. How'd you know it's my favourite?"

He shrugged again. "It's my favourite, too. Plus, who hates grilled cheese?" I giggled a bit through my glorious sandwich.

When I finished the sandwich, I curled my hand around the Iced Capp and lay down on my back. I rested my head on my arm and watched the stars. "When I was little," I said in a bare whisper. "My mom and I would always watch the clouds during the day. But my dad would take me to the park every November to watch the Leonids meteor shower. Every time, all four days, no matter if I had school or not." My hand twitched to run through my hair, but I stopped it. '_No more nervous twitches_', I told myself right then. '_No stutters, no nervous breakdowns, nothing. I have the guy, and I'm happy. I'm not nervous._' But was I?

"Ari and I used to watch that meteor shower, too." Austin said as he lay down beside me on the blanket. "When she…" he gulped. "When she died, I stopped."

I looked over to him. His face was the same as it had been the day before; sad, hurt, like all he wanted to do was move on, but no one would let him. And I wanted to let him – believe me, I know how glorious it would be if people let you get over it – but it didn't seem like he wanted to let it go. Why would he? She sounded like she was his best friend. He obviously loved his sister. So why would he want to let it go?

I didn't want to disrupt him, but, sadly, I did. In a way that made me wonder exactly how I was never identified as intellectually inferior. "I read the article." I blurted out.

"What?" he blinked.

"The article…about your sister." I trained my eyes to the stars. "I read it today."

"Oh." He shifted his position so his head was angled more towards mine. I noticed his right hand was balled into a fist over his chest.

"Were you really the one to identify her?" I don't know why I pushed it further.

"Yes. I was the first one to know…about Ari." He ran a slow hand through his hair. "The police phoned when I was home alone. They said they found a girl in the pool that fit Ari's description, and they wanted someone to-to identify her. I was only thirteen, but I knew what that meant." Every muscle in his body was tense and twitching slightly. Even his jaw was clenched.

I slipped my hand into his and squeezed. "It's okay."

He took a deep breath. He smiled, bemused. "I've never actually told anyone this. Not even my parents know what happened when I had to identify her. I just can't figure out why you're different from all the therapists and psychologists I've talked to."

"Maybe because I've been through the same thing." I suggested. He nodded slowly. "So what happened next?"

"I…threw the phone against the wall. I didn't even bother to shut it off. When he said I had to identify the girl, I lost it. I broke the phone, the lamp, and part of the wall. An hour later, I was at the pool. And there she was, on the gurney, under a tarp. And then I found the note beside the diving board. I was so mad; I punched out one of the windows and a police officer. I had to get surgery to get out all the glass and fix the bone."

He held his arm up and rolled up the right sleeve of his hoodie to reveal long white scars along the inside of his arm. I gasped slightly. I hadn't seen the scars before.

"Yeah, I couldn't play music for three months. It was the worst time of my life. Ari always said I should be a rockstar. And I'm going to be a rockstar. Soon. For her." He rolled his sleeve back down and let his hand fall back onto his stomach.

"I think that is the sweetest thing I've ever heard." I gaped. He blushed. I turned on my side and curled up close to his side. His arm went around me and held me closer.

"_The day I first met you,_" I sang under my breath.

"_You told me you'd never fall in love._" He sang back, hugging me closer. Somewhere around us, I thought I heard a twig snap. I twitched to see what it was, but I really didn't want to move from my position so close to him.

"It's like that song was _made _for us." I said.

"Who knows?" he said. "Maybe it was."

"Don't be ridiculous. We've only been…whatever we're doing for three weeks. Plus, neither of us knows Demi Lovato." I said.

"Oh, Ally, Ally, Allyson." he shook his head. "I think you've learned not to underestimate me." I laughed into his shirt, smiling at his familiar scent; a fresh summer breeze.

Then I heard it again - that _snap!_ of a twig. There was no way that was a coincidence or a budding symptom of schizophrenia, right? I reluctantly pushed up from my position and scanned the trees. Nothing.

I shook my head and was just about to lay down, when I saw it. It was just a small blur of motion, and I never would have caught it had I not been looking. As small as it was, though, it was enough to make me swear in a very unladylike manor.

And what was it, you're probably trying to figure out? Well, I'll tell you.

It was a flash of pencil straight blonde hair through the cracks in the trees.

* * *

**SNAP! Somebody knows, who's it gonna be? Also, sorry if the article is bad, but I am terrible at journalism. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I had exams to ace-slash-barely study for. I kid! Kids, always study, because the best things in life all start with 'A'; "Austin & Ally", "A doctor", "A lawyer". Now! Onto the notes:**

**Tyler Tielor: Thanks, thanks, thanks!  
Tielor luv Soccer: Thanks! Are you the same person as above?  
AandA: Thank you! Keep reading for sneak peeks on my books! And just wait...shit's going down soon. Soon... *rubs fingertips together evilly*  
Soccer girls: Yay! Thank you!  
Soccer girls (again): What? I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you said for chapter 15.  
Yellow Hey: Sweet, thank you!  
Drizzle of Darkness: Damn, that would have been good! But Ben was really the first thing that came to mind. Thanks!  
**

**For not updating for a week and a half (that killed me, by the way), I'll have the next chapter up by midnight tonight. And THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed and everyone who wished me luck on my exams! I couldn't have kept sane without you guys!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen: Sketches & Shacking Up With A Blonde

* * *

I pushed up from the ground, ignoring Austin's complaints, and bolted into the woods after her. I passed the forgotten box of charcoal pencils she had dropped when she bolted. '_She wasn't supposed to know_' I thought to myself angrily. '_No one was supposed to know!_'

I pushed through the trees after her, but I knew it was going to take a hell of a lot more than determination to catch her. I pumped my arms faster at my sides as I pushed through the burn in my legs. Faster, faster, and faster still. I _had _to catch her – it was non-negotiable, really.

"Wait!" I called to her back, as it came in to view more. I could see her small stature by now, under the dark canopy of trees. "Let me explain –" I fell down and rolled when my foot caught on a root of a tree sticking out above ground. I tumbled down and landed face first in a pile of pine needles. I quickly pushed up and resumed running. I hadn't been fast enough, though. Her golden hair had disappeared through the trees. I could still hear her stomping around, cracking sticks under her paint splattered blue converse.

Suddenly, a blonde blur pushed past me, after her. Austin managed to catch up to her no problem. Of course. A nerd can catch up to the nationally ranked track star. Why not? I saw him reach her, and grab hold of her wrist. She yanked away from him, but stumble at the jerk. She fell to the ground long enough for me to catch up to the two Speedy Gonzales'.

I stopped in front of the two and leaned on my knees, huffing and puffing until my face was beet red. "Wait…" I gasped for air. I took a few more gulps before returning to my regular composure. I put my hands on my hips and watched as Austin offered a hand out to Jenna. She flipped her golden hair over our shoulder, and scoffed at his hand. She pushed herself up and turned to me.

"Allyson Dawson, I come out here for some peace and quiet to do some sketches, and instead of peace, I find you, shacking up with some…" she waved her hands wildly, trying to find the right words. "Asswipe of a nerd!" I moved defensively beside Austin.

"Hey, I'm right here." Austin said defiantly.

"I will deal with you later, Mr. Moon, but for now, shut it or I kick you in the neck." She snapped. I resisted the urge to laugh at Austin being told off by such a small girl as Jenna. The funniest thing was – I knew as much as he did she wasn't kidding. Jenna turned back to me.

"I wasn't shacking up with him." I said.

"Well, you weren't helping him with his biology homework, now were you?" she shot back acidly. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but I just drew a blank. There was nothing I could say that would help me.

Her bright blue eyes burned brighter than I'd ever seen them. I could just _see_ her hatred for me. "Ally, we've been friends for what, six years? You've never once kept a secret from me. But now, I have to find out for myself that you're hooking up with a guy, when you have another guy back home – " she stopped midsentence. "He's Ben, isn't he?" she jabbed her arm towards him. "The guy you said was funny and sweet and smart and a big fat yay in the abs department. It's him?" Austin's eyebrows shot up at me. I ignored him and focused on Jenna. I nodded slowly.

"So you really like him?" she said. Again, I nodded. She scratched the back of her neck like she always did when she had to think a billion times harder than usual.

"Look, Jenna, I would have told you in a heartbeat, had I not thought you would react like, well…" I trailed off. I let out a deep breath. "I hate keeping secrets from you, you know I do. But I think I'd hate it even more if I could never see him again."

I felt Austin's arm slink around my waist and a deep blush rise up my neck. My eyes fell to my worn out gladiator sandals.

"So then you should have told me." she said. "You should have told me the second you realized that you could be falling for the resident Nerd of Anubis."

"But I didn't know I was falling for a nerd until he screamed at me that he was falling for me!" I screamed. The words tumbled from my lips and made me wish I'd never gone to that graveyard in the first place. Jenna narrowed her eyes at me the way she did at her math textbook when she was just about to throw it across the room.

"Don't you dare yell at me, Allyson Dawson." She spat. "I have been there with you through everything."

"No, you've been there when I couldn't decide what to wear to the end of the year bonfire. Austin has been there for me when I wanted to cry. When I wanted to scream, he let me scream at him, and when I wanted to do the one thing that I love more than even Tom, he didn't try to stop me. He helped me sneak out to the music room in the middle of the night!" my voice had rose a few decibels and I spoke, until I was full on yelling at her. I had never yelled at her like that before. I don't know what had clicked – or rather, snapped – in me to make me yell at her, but I had just had it with her.

Her blue eyes filled with tears. She threw the sketchbook clutched in her hands down onto the ground in a huff. Before the pad had even touched the ground, she had turned on a heel and stalked out of the alcove of trees, furious. I ran a hand through my hair '_What did I just do?_' I thought. I bent down to the ground to pick up her beloved sketchpad from the piles of pine needles and animal droppings scattered everywhere.

As I did, it fell open to a recently opened page. '_What have we swaggering here?_' I wondered silently. I could see it was a drawing of two people curled up close together, in a very much intimate way. One figure, the guy, was obviously Austin. Even without colour, his hair still flopped just the right way, and his shirt said the same things. The other figure, the girl, was me. I could just guess by the way Jenna's drawn me in the past.

I examined the drawing closely. It had taken time to draw, obviously. She hadn't just seen us together and drawn it as she ran. No, she had put a lot of time and effort into the drawing – no less than any other drawing. That meant one thing: she had seen the whole night. She knew I hadn't lied to her about just Austin. She knew – at least partly – what I had been hiding from her for six years.

* * *

**Jenna knows. Well, this should be interesting. And I know it's short, but I'm really tired, and I just want to sleep for the rest of the summer...**

**Well, keep on reading, and keep on reviewing, guys! I live to read your awesome reviews! And since I had to make you guys wait two weeks for these past two chapters, here's a sneak peek at chapter eighteen:**

**"_I can get your heart beat, beat, beat, beating like,  
I can get your heart beat, beating like that._"**

**See if you can guess what that means, and tell me in the reviews!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen: Bitch Slaps & Big Flashing Lights

* * *

I trudged back to my dorm after kissing Austin goodnight quickly. The second I shut my heavy door behind me, I let the tears fall. I slid down the back of my door and buried my head in my arms, crying softly.

'_You shouldn't have done that._' My brain chided me.

'_Oh, shut up, brain,_' I argued. '_I had to yell at her. I couldn't keep it in anymore. She was going to find out sooner or later._'

'_Yes, but your heart and I both agree, later would have been better than sooner._' That stupid, logical part of my brain responded.

My god, I'm losing my mind.

I cried for a few more minutes, before something made me snap out of it. What had snapped me out of my sorry state was the bleep of my laptop, telling me I had a waiting IM. I rubbed my eyes with the balls of my hands, wiping away the salty tears. I strode over to my laptop, and signed in. An IM box popped up.

**JenzaLuvsProfOink:** I'll keep your stupid little secrets for now. But that expires tomorrow at 10 pm sharp. Meet me in the English room then. You are spilling your guts, whether you like it or not. Don't be late.

I quickly typed a reply.

**AwesomeDawson: **Deal. 10 pm at the English room. Anything else?

**JenzaLuvsProfOink: **I swear to god if that nerd comes, I will tell everyone so fast, it'll make your head spin.

**AwesomeDawson: **No Austin. Got it. Thanks, Jenza :)

**JenzaLuvsProfOink: **Shut it.

And with that, she signed off. No goodbye, nothing. She hated me.

Ω

I spent the entirety of Sunday walking around the forest aimlessly. I was plugged into my iPhone the whole day, lost in the sound of the music. It never failed to calm me. I basked in the warm sunshine of June. I really should have been inside like everyone else, studying for the finals that started next Monday. Well, I could study later.

I kept my hands dug in my pockets all day. My right hand felt my iPhone, and my left felt the thick paper of Jenna's drawing. Several times, I pulled it out and gaped at how perfect we two looked together. I don't mean to sound conceited or arrogant or anything, but we really did look like a match made in heaven, the way she drew us. Each time I pulled out the drawing, I smiled at it, happy, and then remembered about my meeting with Jenna later that night. That thought made my stomach drop a thousand feet towards the centre of the earth. I had to tell her everything. Once I thought that, I would stuff the paper back into my pocket and push on, only to pull it out minutes later, and repeat.

'_Stupid Ally,_' I chided myself a thousand times that day. '_How could you let your life get _this _messed up? Stupid Ally._'

I ignored the calls to lunch at noon, and kept walking until the sun had fallen behind the line of trees in the horizon. Then I clicked off my music and walked silently into the school again, over to the Great Hall for dinner. It was a very uncomfortable dinner. Jenna didn't meet my eyes once, and regarded me even less. Bree, as usual, didn't notice. She stayed bubble as always. She tried to engage me in conversation, but my heart wasn't into it. I wasn't even up to slapping Dallas when he tried to pull me away with him to a dark corner. I just shrugged off his hand and picked at my food.

"She's just lovesick," Bree defended me. "She's missing Ben in Miami." Then she would giggle and smile down at her salad. Then, and only then, Jenna looked at me. Her blue eyes looked a stormy gray for once. Then she looked back down at her mashed potatoes and drenched them in more gravy. Suddenly, I didn't feel like eating. I felt sick to my stomach. I pushed my still full plate away and said bye to the others as I left. The hell I would get from the lunch ladies for not finishing my dinner was worth getting out of there.

Ω

At ten o'clock, I sat in the teacher's seat in front of the English classroom, waiting for Jenna. She stalked into the room at exactly one minute past ten. She walked over to me. I stood from my chair and faced her. She planted herself in front of me and slapped me across the face. _Hard_.

It was a good slap. My cheek stung from the impact. No, stung was an understatement. It _burned_. And I knew I deserved it.

Gingerly, I touched the cheek with my fingers. "Okay, I know I deserved that, but –" I started, only to have her cut me off.

"No, you didn't deserve it. You deserve to be thrown into hell, so I never have to see your lying face again." She spat with such venom I didn't expect from her. "But I'm here, so you may as well explain yourself. Now." She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot against the tiled floor.

So I did. I started with when I first hit Austin in the hallway, then what he said in the forest that day. I left out the part of Trish and Dez finding us (why bring them into this?). Then I told her what happened in the graveyard (I left out the fact that it was a graveyard), and what he had said to me then. Then I moved on to what I was _really_ dreading. What I had hoped she would never know.

"My parents died when I was seven. A year before I came to Anubis." I said in a bare whisper. She sucked in a breath. "Yeah. Austin had the same reaction." I said before I could swallow the words. Her eyes turned stormy gray again.

"So you told him, but not your best friend?" she shot.

My eyes fell to the tiles under my feet. "Yes." I said. "I…there's no excuse for lying to you about that, but…you don't know what it was like to have every person I know pity me because I don't have parents. All those sympathetic glances? All the '_helpful'_ pats on the back? They made it worse. They didn't let it die."

"But it didn't occur to you that maybe I wouldn't have pitied you?" she said. I shook my head as tears blurred my vision.

I rubbed one away with the palm of my hand, but that only encouraged more to surface. Then Jenna did the one thing I never ever thought she would do. She wrapped her arms around me in a hug. She was nearly a head smaller than me. I rested my chin on her shoulder and let the tears fall onto her shoulder. I didn't expect her to react this… _nicely _to what I had to tell her.

"Why are you being so nice? I've been lying to you for six years." I asked through the silent tears.

"Well, yes, but I think I can see where you were coming from." She pulled away and looked at me. "You wanted to be someone other than the poor, poor orphan girl, didn't you?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry. I hated lying to you every day. It nearly killed me every time I said I had to call my parents, or that I was excited to see my parents over March break."

"Was Tom a lie?" she asked.

"Tom? No, definitely not a lie. He's my brother. Actually, he's more than my brother. He's my mom, my dad, and my brother all wrapped up in one convenient package. I don't think I could ever lie about Tom."

"What about Miami? Do you really live there?" so she was testing me.

"Yes, I really do live in Miami. I wish I were there, now." I pouted my lip. I always wished I was in Miami. "I only got here on a full scholarship, though. I've had to keep my grades up since then. Straight A's or I go home."

"So…every time I asked you what you got on an essay…the marks were all lies?" she said slowly.

"Yes." I sagged my shoulders in shame. "Before Anubis, I was an Unnecessary. I've never been a Popular before. I didn't want to mess it up."

That seemed to do it for her. Her blue eyes burned with a scary intensity I never wanted to see ever again. "Well, I think you've done a fine job of messing it up for yourself, now." She shot. I winced at that. "You were just an Unnecessary the whole time." Then she spun on a heel and sauntered out of the room, leaving me to wallow in my own self stupidity. Again.

'_I'm an invisible._' I thought to myself. '_I always was, and I always will be._'

Ω

"She never wants to see me again." I said. I sat on the edge of Austin's bed, in his dorm room, around eleven.

"No, she just needs to cool off a bit." He said from his desk chair. He still sounded sleepy from the sleep I had woken him out of not ten minutes ago. He yawned. "She'll come around."

"You're probably right." I nodded, still unconvinced.

"I'm always right. Haven't we been through this?" he said. I laughed a bit, but only half-heartedly. I played with a loose thread on my sweater nervously.

"Sorry I woke you up." I looked at him. He was currently fighting to stay conscious by flipping through a Spiderman comic book from his collection. Yes, I know. I know how to pick 'em. "I must be the worst girlfriend in history; always complaining and whatnot."

"Did you just say 'whatnot'?" he looked at me over the top of his comic book, bemused. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Besides, I don't mind. I like helping someone with an even more messed up life than mine."

"Oh, thanks. You're the best boyfriend ever." I said in a flat, sarcastic voice. Then it was his turn to stick his tongue out at me.

"I think I may have something to help life your spirits." He set down his comic book and walked over to the corner of the room where a colourful display of instruments was set up. He picked up an acoustic guitar from the front row and slung the strap over his shoulder. He tuned the strings a bit, then turned around to me.

"I've been thinking about this ever since you showed me that song in your practice room; Double Take. What if…we formed a little partnership? You and me. We could go the distance." He raised his arm dramatically, looking off to god knows where. "You could write the songs, and I could do mah rockstar thayng. I bet," he stopped and flashed a smile. "We could even play Times Square on New Year's Eve."

"So…you want me to spend _more_ time with you?" I asked. "No, that's not worth it. Besides, Tom always says the odds of making it in the music business are a billion to one. There's no way we could do it." I shook my head.

"Now don't you go dismissing it so easily. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm pretty badass when it comes to music." He smiled more broadly. He took off his thick rimmed glasses and tossed them onto the bed beside me.

He adjusted the guitar and started playing chords on it. Then singing. God, it's always impossible to say no to him while he was singing.

"_I can get your heart beat-beat-beat-beatin' like  
I can get your heart beat beatin' like that  
You know you got my heart beat-beat-beat-beatin' like  
Hey-ay ay-ay Hey-ay-ay_

_Would you, would you want it if I stood up above a crowd,  
Got up on a chair and if I shouted your name aloud  
Could you, could you take me, call me baby without a doubt  
I'm shouting your name right now, shouting your name right now_

_Don't you get it, get it, I'm nothin' like them other ones.  
Raise upon the notion, I ain't hosting no reruns  
I said it, said it, said it, wouldn't let it be all or none  
'Cause I ain't no rerun, I ain't no rerun_

_I'll make you forget (forget)  
What you came here for (here for)  
For goodness sake, let's make or break this heart  
'Cause it needs more_

_I can get your heart beat-beat-beat-beatin' like  
I can get your heart beat beatin' like that  
You know you got my heart beat-beat-beat-beatin' like  
Hey-ay-ay-ay Hey-ay-ay_

_I can get your heart beat-beat-beat-beatin' like  
I can get your heart beat beatin' like that  
You know you got my heart beat-beat-beat-beatin' like  
Hey-ay-ay-ay Hey-ay-ay_

_(Hey-ay)  
Let me hear you like,  
(Hey-ay-ay)  
(Hey-ay)  
Can you do it like  
Hey-ay ay-ay Hey-ay_"

He finished the last note, smiling like an idiot.

"Well, I must admit, you do have the voice of a thousand singing angels." I said. It was a bit of an understatement, but why boost his ego even more?

"Of course I do. I'm Austin freaking Moon." He took the guitar off of his shoulder and rested it back on its stand. "It's just a little something something I've been working on for forever now." He shrugged. "You could write a better one. If only you were my partner…" he sighed.

I smiled faintly. I stood from his bed and walked over to him. I wrapped my arms around him, leaning in close to his chest. "Fine. On one condition: we don't start until the summer. I have enough on my plate with finals and Jenna. The last thing I need right now is to worry about another thing like your already overinflated ego getting any bigger with fame."

"Yes!" he said excitedly. He wrapped his arms tight around me. He picked me up and twirled me like they do in those stupid chick flicks I love to make fun of so very much. "We are going to take the world by storm!"

He set me down and looked off at the distance. "I can see it now. Our names in flashing lights. Fans cheering our names as we come onto the stage. We could totally rock it." He seemed like a kid in a candy store. I smiled.

'_Austin and Ally_' in big flashing lights. I could see it, two…

* * *

**Austin, I know what we're going to do this summer... Ah, Phineas and Ferb...what an epic show...**

**So, thank you to all you who guessed about the song. Although, only one of you actually got it right. Felicity-Blake come on down! (The Price Is Right). It's the song from the newest A&A episode, Diners & Daters. The song is called Heartbeat Beat. You can watch the song and the full episode on YouTube. I freaking love that episode. And the song. **

**Notes!  
DisneychannelwatcherWow: Why thank you!  
ciara: No, I don't hate you. I love making you suffer in waiting for the next chapter. But I definitely don't hate you.  
Tyler Tielor: Ohh, swing and a miss! Haha, just kidding! Thanks for the guess.  
Tielor luv SOCCER: thank thank thank you!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and keep 'em coming! Love ya!**

**-KR Blake Ω**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter nineteen: Truths & Tears

* * *

The rest of the week dragged on and on and on. I locked myself in my room from the second my classes finished at 2:20 each day to the dinner call at 7 o'clock. All I did was study.

It sucked.

The only thing that kept me sane was two things. One: the sight of Jenna's drawing, which I had pinned up on my wall, over my desk. Two: IMing Austin every day when I needed a break from studying. We would just talk aimlessly about waffles and childhood memories that are completely irrelevant to each other.

Each night I would call him when I couldn't fall asleep. We would take for hours at a time about the biggest things or nothing at all. He would sometimes list of things he liked about me (the list was a little redundant at times, but surprisingly long), and I him. He would list my hair, my eyes, my nose, my lips, my voice, the way I narrowed my eyes in concentration when I played piano, the way I never put up with his crap, that sort of thing. Sometimes, we wouldn't even talk; just listen to each other breath and pretend we were right beside each other until one of us fell asleep. I slept well on those nights.

Each day, Jenna barely looked at me. She hadn't told anyone, so she didn't _fully_ hate me, but she hated me nonetheless. And Bree, of course, was her usual oblivious self. She chirped questions to me about Ben, and I would answer them in complete lies. After a while, it started getting reflexive. Smile, grit my teeth, lie. Smile, grit my teeth, lie. Smile, grit my teeth, lie; on an endless loop. My life started to take a turn for the worse. I started to turn back to that old life, where I was destined to be the victim on an episode of Criminal Minds. Which I wouldn't mind, if I wasn't dead. I mean, have you seen Matthew Grey Gubler?

The only thing that could have made it worse was the inevitable: the end of the year bonfire. Each year, everyone got together in the clearing for a huge bonfire the last school day before finals. I usually had fun with Bree and Jenna, but with Jenna ignoring me and Bree being totally oblivious, I just wasn't in the mood for it this year. But still, I had to go. It was non-negotiable.

And that's why, at 7:23 p.m. that Friday night, I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, examining myself sickeningly. I wore a red sundress with a half-arm length black leather jacket and matching black ballet flats. I hated it. I took a deep breath, grabbed my iPhone, and left my room. In retrospect, had I stayed in my room, my life would be terrible right now, though I didn't think that would ever be possible then.

Ω

I walked along the quiet hallways in silence, my hands dug deep into my pockets. My light footsteps echoed in the empty corridors; everyone was already at the bonfire. From behind me, I could only hear one set of footsteps from behind me.

"Going to the bonfire?" Austin's voice said from behind me. I stopped and turned around, smiling for the first time that day.

"Yeah. You?" I said. He nodded. He caught up to me, and we continued walking. "You'll be the only one I'll be able to stand tonight." I said, very unenthused.

"Not even Jenna?" he said.

"Nah. She's still ignoring me." I leaned my head against his shoulder as we walked. He wrapped an arm around me, hugging me close to him. I found the will somehow to smile at that action. His touch still made me feel all fuzzy inside.

"Well, even if you hate your night, you look beautiful." He said.

"You don't look half bad yourself." I looked at him. He was wearing his usual ripped jeans and faded band tee. But that day, though, he had left his thick rimmed glasses in his dorm. I guessed he was wearing contacts.

"Of course not." He scoffed. "I'm Austin freaking Moon."

I laughed, leaning into his chest. "Yeah, you are. Don't ever change that."

I watched the heavy blue carpet underneath us as we walked. I couldn't help but think of that day a month ago, when he had first called me Pretty Girl. The way he had said it was so definitive, it almost scared me. Almost.

"Nerd." I muttered, smiling.

"Pretty Girl." He muttered back.

Ω

An hour later, I stood in the clearing, leaning against a tree, a cup of beer in my hand and idiots all around me. I had barely touched the cup of beer, and instead rolled my eyes at every wasted minor niner that stumbled past. Then sun had already set, letting the stars and full moon claim the skies above. Through the night, I could see Jenna and Jack together just past the line of trees, making out. Bree stood in front of the bonfire, her third cup of beer in hand, flirting with a grade twelve. He was smiling and flexing his muscles, and she was laughing and feeling them in response. Amazing.

Across the clearing, on the other side of the giant bonfire, stood Austin, talking with Dez, his own cup of beer in hand. I had been watching him for the past twenty minutes. He hadn't taken one sip from the singles cup.

A band played at one edge of the clearing. It was a group of grade twelves, consisting of a lead singer, lead guitarist, bassist, drummer, and a backup violin player. The whole night, they had been belting out covers and the occasional original that was surprisingly catchy. I could see this band being on the radio. They were good.

"Yeah Alllly." A voice slurred behind me in the trees. I grimaced and turned around to an already plastered Dallas. "Wan come inna da forest whiff me?" his voice was so slurred; I could barely understand what he was saying.

"Dallas, you're drunk." I said.

"That'll make it all the more fun." He smiled drunkenly – literally – and grabbed hold of my hand. He pulled me into the trees with him.

I let him lead me through the trees, farther and farther away from the noise of the clearing. I knew I should have told him to let me go, but Tom told me once to never snap at a plastered sixteen year old boy. Instead of going with my gut, I settled for letting him lead me to a little grove of trees about fifty feet away from the tree line. I could still see the giant bonfire through the gaps, glowing bright as any other year.

"So what did you want?" I said.

"Li'l bit of this, li'l bit o' that." He slurred. It was a wonder he wasn't dead from alcohol poisoning yet.

"Okay, you're going to have to be a little less vague." I said.

Then – god, if I could have killed him then, I would have gladly – he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. I felt his lips attack my neck.

"No." I said. I put my hands on his chest and pushed him away.

"Aw, c'mon, Allly. Don't be such a stick in damud." He complained sully. Hands on my waist again. Lips on my neck. He pushed me against the tree behind me, trapping me.

"No, Dallas, you're drunk." I said. I tried to push him off me again, but he was too strong.

I was trapped.

Then his hand went…places a little farther north than I would have hoped – ever – and I lost it.

"_No!_" I shoved his shoulders gruffly. I managed to push him just far enough away from me to wriggle out from under his arms. I side stepped away and stood behind him. He whipped around and went for me again, smiling sinisterly. I put my hands out to stop him, but he just caught them in his own and pressed them to his chest.

"L-leave me al-lone." I stuttered. _Shit!_ "I-I don't want to."

"Of course you do. I'm Dallas White." He pulled me closer, and this time, pressed his lips to mine. I cringed. It wasn't anything like Austin. Where his were soft, like he genuinely cared about me, Dallas's were gruff and tasteless, like he only cared about what was in my skirt and what was in his pants having a little surprise meeting. I fought and struggled all I could, but his grip was relentless.

I was trapped.

Suddenly, Dallas was wrenched away from me. I fell back a few paces, shaking. I watched as Austin pinned Dallas to the tree I was previously trapped against. Austin held him by the shoulders, lifting him up a few inches. Though I couldn't see his hazel eyes, I could tell what his expression was like; hard, protective, abrasive, and all around scary.

"She said she didn't want to." Austin growled, shaking Dallas by the shoulders a bit. "I suggest you get back to the fire."

"Or what?" Dallas hiccupped. "A little Unnecessary like you's gonna save *_hick_* her?"

"I just might if you do that again." Austin replied harshly.

"Why?" Dallas laughed giddily. "You got a crush on 'er?"

"No, but I'm going to crush you if you _ever_ do that to her again." Austin pushed him one last time against the tree. His face twisted in pain, before the blonde let him slump down onto the grass.

Dallas pushed himself up and brushed grass and pine needles off his jeans. "Go away, nerd." He shoved Austin's shoulder a bit. "We're busy."

He stepped over to where I had been cowering against a tree trunk, and wrapped his arms around my waist again. He leaned down to kiss, but Austin ripped him away from me before he could.

"That's it, ass, you've lost your chance." Austin threw him against a tree. Dallas hit it. _Hard_. I heard a crunch of bones on wood, and cringed away from the sound. He fell to the ground, moaning and groaning in pain.

Austin stomped over, picked Dallas up by his blue polo collar, and punched him across the face. I shielded my eyes away when blood started to drip from Dallas's split lip. Dallas pushed Austin gruffly on the shoulders. Austin stumbled away. He fell back against a tree. Dallas stood and walked over to Austin slowly, a crazed, lunatic look in his dark eyes.

Oh.

God.

"_No!_" I stepped in between Austin and Dallas, balling my hands into fists and standing firm. "Leave him alone!"

"Get out of the way." Dallas said. He started forward again, but I blocked his path.

"No. Leave him alone." I repeated, more forcefully. Dallas laughed darkly.

"Why? You got a crush on him, too?" he smiled, chuckling huskily. He shook his head. "Get out of the way." He shoved me aside, catching me off guard. I flew to the side and fell. Sticks cut into my arms and knees as I flailed, trying to catch myself.

What happened next felt like it happened all in the same instant.

My head struck a rock protruding from the ground when I landed butt first, then head, on the forest floor. I took in a breath sharply, grunting from the pain. I blinked, and all I saw was black for a tenth of a second. I panicked. Fear shot through me in the moments I couldn't see. '_I'm dead,_' I thought. '_I know I am. I'm dead._' Then I heard a punching noise, a cry of pain, and footsteps pounding in my direction. I blinked again, and the world was back, but shadowed. Unnatural. I saw Austin leaning over me, looking worried.

"Ally? Ally, answer me!" he said desperately. His lips moved at different times with the words. He looked like a horribly dubbed movie from way back when. I felt a small smile break its way to my lips.

"Austin." I whispered. My voice sounded like it did when I woke up in the hospital in Miami. Like I was speaking through a mouthful of sandpaper.

I forgot all about Dallas and the impending rape I had just faced, and reached my hand up weakly. He took my hand and curled his fingers around mine, smiling. "Come on." He said. Slowly, he helped me up. My head pounded every time I moved my neck, or moved at all for that matter.

"Oh, so _this_ it is?" The amused voice of a jackass I had forgotten about said from behind me. "You two are together, is that it?"

I whipped around, gasping at the jolts of near unbearable pain shooting up and down my spine, and stared, wide-eyed at Dallas. He leaned against a tree, looking very much bemused. I blushed when I realized what he was talking about. The fact that we were holding hands, smiling, and I was probably blushing slightly.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Austin beat me to it. "Yeah. So what? She chose me over you. Only because she deserves a man, and you are no man." He growled, draping an arm over my shoulder. "You're just a sad excuse for a human in a stupid grin."

Dallas's face twisted into indescribable anger. "You're going to wish you never said that, Unnecessary." He growled murderously.

"Ooh, I'm so scared!" Austin taunted. That boy was…well, I wouldn't be surprised if he got slapped profusely in the future. "What can you do to me, Dallas? You've got nothing."

Dallas raised an eyebrow. "No? Well, what about your stupid, self-centred girlfriend? I'm sure I could find _something_ against her." I knew that tone. It was the same malicious tone he used with his eighth grade teacher when he blackmailed her to give him an A. He threatened to tell everyone about her affair with Anubis's headmaster. He blackmailed her to get what he wanted with that exact same tone and stupid, drunk, sinister look.

Blackmail.

No.

Austin must have figured it out as well, because he tensed and lunged for Dallas. But before he could tackle the son of a bitch, Dallas lurched into motion, running past us, through the trees. The only thing Austin and I could do was chase after him.

Austin ran, and I tried to follow, but the pain in my spine was too great. I crumpled to the ground, tears threatening to spill. Austin looked back and shook his head. He swore, bent down, hoisted me onto his back and ran.

Dallas's figure faded in and out of my view as he weaved in between the trees and shadows. We neared the bonfire. The chatter slowly grew in my ears, telling me we were close to everything falling apart.

Dallas broke through the tree line before we did. He stalked over to the band, which was currently playing a cover of Simple Plan's _Welcome to My Life_. They sounded amazing, until Dallas stumbled over to the lead singer, knocked him out with a punch, and grabbed the mic. The other band members protested loudly, trying to grab the mic back, but Dallas just slapped their hands away and turned to the gathering crowd.

"Yo! What's up, Anubis?" he shouted sully into the mic. The crowd cheered their answer. "A'right, a'right. Awesome. But you know what's _not_ awesome? What I just found out about your precious popular girl Ally Dawson."

Austin and I broke through the tree line just as Dallas said my name. Suddenly, every head was on me, piggybacking on Austin's back. The blood drained from my face. Eyes popped from every head. Jenna, who stood at the edge of the crowd with Jack, stared, just as pale as I probably was. Bree's mouth dropped to the floor.

"That's right, Anubis. Our local slut has been shacking up with a stupid Unnecessary." Dallas continued to slur.

A wave of mutters spread through the crowd. I slid off Austin's back, tears brimming. I caught little snippets of what they were saying "_Slut…not worth it…knew it…bitch…why...bastard_." Austin tried to fit his hand in mine, but I shook it away. I tried to choke something out, but nothing came. Only a strangled sob. I turned and ran, my head buried in my hands. I heard Austin call after me, but I didn't answer, like I normally would have. I just ran.

Ω

Endless minutes later, I sat in the crook of two branches high in a tree. I leaned my head against the thick trunk, wiping tears away as they surfaced and fell down my cheeks.

"Ally!" a voice called down below. At first, I thought it was Austin, but then I realized, the voice was too…_feminine_ to Austin's. "Ally come down!" Jenna.

"Why should I? No one was supposed to know. I'm such an idiot." I called won to her, but muttered that last part to myself.

"Ally, just come down, you're not stupid." She pleaded.

"How do you now!" I snapped and shrieked. "You hate me, and you hate the only guy I've ever really liked. How do you know I'm not a complete and utter idiot!" I glared down at her. She looked…scared of my snap.

"Ally, I don't hate you. You've been my best friend for what, six years?" she insisted. I didn't believe her. She took a deep breath, running a hand through her pencil straight blonde hair. "That night, in the forest, I saw the whole thing. But you know why I didn't say anything? Because the last time I saw two people together _that_ happy was when I went to see my grandparents in Chicago."

I knew her grandparents. Jenna told me about them all the time. She loved them, maybe even more than her parents. She said they had true love. They looked at each other, and she swore they fell in love with each other every time.

I looked at her. "Wh-what?" I said in a tiny, barely audible voice.

"Ally, what you guys have…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "I don't know how to explain it other than…I _want_ that. My grandparents have it, and I want it." She took another deep breath. "But if you can't see that, then maybe you really are stupid. Austin is too great a guy for you to think this is just having some stupid fun in high school."

With that, she turned and strutted away from the base of my tree, leaving me to muddle in my thoughts of what she was trying to tell me. I hoped it wasn't what I thought it was. But then again, I kind of hoped it was. I think…

Ω

Hours after Jenna had left me; I had slid down from my tree, and started wandering aimlessly around the forest. After a little bit, the trees rustled behind me. I turned to see Austin stepping around a tall tree, smiling when his eyes met mine.

"You've been crying." He noted. I sniffled and wiped one last tear from my eye.

"Yeah. What about you?" I knew it was a pointless question; Austin never cried.

"No." he shook his head. "I've just been looking for you." Jenna's words played through my mind then. '_What you guys have…I don't know how to explain it other than…I _want_ that._' I smiled.

"I've been looking for you, too." I said. I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around him. I stood on my tip toes, nuzzling my nose into his collarbone, and inhaled his scent. A fresh summer breeze. '_All my life._' I wanted to add. But I knew I couldn't. Not yet.

"You ran away so fast." He said in my ear. "You okay?"

"I will be." I said. "I just wish I could have had a dance with you." It was true. All through the week, I had daydreamt about having one slow dance in front of the bonfire with him. One dance…

"Well, you know," he checked the watch on his arm. "It's only eleven. Ally, will you go to the end of the year bonfire with me."

I pulled away and looked at him, glowing with a broad smile. "I would love to, Austin."

Ω

And so, at 11:23 p.m., I walked hand in hand with Austin through the treeline, smiling. I don't think I'd ever been happier in my six or seven years at Anubis. People stared as we walked past, but I couldn't have cared less. We stayed at the edge of the dancing crowds, swaying to the sound of the music. Austin laughed at my Achilles heel; dancing. I suck at it. That didn't seem to faze him, though. He just smiled more widely and squeezed my hand.

"Alright, guys, sadly, we have to end this wicked night." The lead singer said into the mic a few songs later. "This will be our last song."

And the song started with the backup violin playing a riff. I smiled wickedly at Austin. "Our song." I said.

He nodded. The singer started with the lyrics, and Austin wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me closer.

"_The day I first met you,  
You told me you'd never fall in love…_"

I stood on my very tip toes and kissed his lips lightly. In the darkening firelight, I could see his face redden a bit. I couldn't help a wink.

Then he leaned down and kissed me, more passionately than before. It was a kiss to end all others. I know. I've used that before, but it's true. It beat out even the graveyard kiss. I ran my fingers through his hair and smiled against his lips.

'_All my life…_' a small voice said in the corners of my mind, making me smile even broader.

* * *

**So there. Everyone knows. And Ally is possibly in love with Austin. Well...I don't really know what to say but, "I think we could have seen this coming." You guys can guess which song is playing at the end of this chapter ;)**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been caught up in school, writing books, God Forsaken High School, AND I started a new story on called Dead Man's Necklace. **

**A few reviews I want to answer: **

**-"_duuuuuude i just got all tingly thts soo not supossed 2 happen 2 me. But other then tht i luuuuuuved it_" Good. It was supposed to make you all tingly :)  
****-"_Dang, when he said that last line, I cried a bit. That was a REALLY good scene. I could picture it so well._" Aww, thank you! I've always wanted that kind of emotion from a reader!  
****-"_The song is called "Heart Beat"..._" No, see "heartbeat" is actually one word, not two. And I made a mistake. The song is called Heartbeat Beating. **

**Thank you SO MUCH to all the Anons who reviewed, and keep at it! I love you guys (not like that) so much! Keep on reading. **

**And as an apology for not updating in so long, here's a sneak peek at chapter twenty: "_What is a hero?_" **

**-KR Blake Ω**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter twenty: Chance & Choosing You

* * *

I stumbled into my room fifteen minutes later, half asleep and dead tired. It wasn't so much that it was late (I'd been up later) as the fact that people kept bumping in the corridors as I walked to my dorm. At one point, a grade eleven boy shoved me so hard with his shoulder; I crashed into the wall beside me. I wasn't hurt bad physically, but still, it stung.

I slumped down on my bed, asleep even before I hit my pillow.

Ω

I awoke the next day to sunshine hitting my eyes and incessant beeping from my laptop. I groaned and pulled myself out of the still warm bed. I noticed I was still wearing the same red sundress as the night before, though the jacket had fallen off sometime while I slept and crumpled onto the floor at my feet. I kicked the jacket angrily and sat down at my desk. I opened the laptop, and was instantly bombarded with IMs I really could have gone without reading.

But of course, I did.

**SliceOfBree:** WHAT is wrong with u, gurl? Y would you shack up with such a nobody? That plane crash must hav been worse than u thot.

**Jackattack: **What have your parents done to you, girl? *shakes head*

**Dramarama676:** I didn't think they would find out like that. I'm sorry. –T

But the one that stung the most was from Dallas.

**Dallyboy305: **It's my school now. bitch. :)

My hands shook as I scrolled down the list of IMs. Most of them were from people saying that Austin had blackmailed me or got me pregnant or other absurd things. One person actually came up with this humorous theory of how he and I came to be together, involving the Illuminati, angels, demons, and a one-man marching band (don't ask).

Fifteen minutes into reading the ever growing number of IMs, I was done. I couldn't take it anymore. I shut my laptop, probably a bit too hard, grabbed my old hoodie from the back of my desk chair and my key, and left. I slid on the hoodie, walked out of the dorm, and locked the door behind me. As I shut the door, I pulled my hood over my face like I always did, and kept my eyes to the thick carpet.

I had no idea where I was headed, but my feet seemed to know. I found myself walking towards the stairs the lead to the fifth floor.

I guess I was very much in my head that day, because I bumped into several people as I walked. I made sure my hood stayed up as I walked, though, gripping the sides tightly to keep my hands busy. As I walked along the third floor back corridor, I collided with the two people who probably never wanted to see me again.

The three of us walked straight into each other, and fell back to the carpet at the same time. My hands flailed, trying to catch myself as I fell. My hood slipped off my face. I covered my eyes from the people I had collided with.

"Hey!" a high pitched voice said shrilly. "What's your problem?"

I was up and walking away, grabbing my hood as I did so.

"Hey, get back here, Unnecessary!" she shrieked. I could just imagine her standing behind me, her hands planted on her hips in frustration.

I smiled to myself, nearly letting out a bubbling laugh. I stopped and turned on a heel to face her, suddenly forgetting my hood. I smiled brightly at Bree and Jenna, putting my hands on my hips. "You were saying?" I raised an eyebrow.

Jenna stood still as a statue, and even paler Bree, on the other hand, had turned beet red with what I presumed to be anger.

"You." Bree hissed, her eyes narrowing. "It was you who bumped into me, wasn't it?"

I realized then with a shock how she knew it was me – I was wearing the same hoodie I had been then, too. Could I tell her that? N O. Instead, I went for the ever classic sarcastic comment. "You don't say?"

Her cheeks flushed with more colour. "You know, I should have guessed about Austin. You are _way_ too bitchy to get a guy like Ben."

"Big surprise, Bree, Austin _is_ Ben. I made up the name, but the guy was still real." The words slipped out before I had any presence of mind to stop them. But of course, I couldn't stop there. "And to think I thought you were sharp. But then again," I smiled maliciously. "You _did_ manage fail art, so I guess shouldn't be surprised."

Bree's face soured a million fold. All the while, Jenna had been standing off to the side, horrified and wide eyed. Bree turned on a heel, grabbing Jenna by the arm as she did, and stormed away. Jenna stayed still for a moment, giving me an apologetic smile, before she let Bree drag her off down the hall.

I shook my head and pulled my hood up again, continuing down the corridor, the opposite way of Bree and Jenna. I walked up the stairs to the fourth floor, where the classrooms were located, and began wandering around there. Finally, in the mathematics wing, I ran into the one person I wanted to see.

Just outside my math classroom, I froze when two strong arms snaked around my waist. Normally, I would have screamed and judo threw the person holding me over my shoulder. I would have had I not known the exact feel of who was nuzzling his face into my neck.

"I am so glad to see you." I breathed a breath of relief, smiling. I curled my fingers around his right hand. "I have had the crappiest day, and it's only…" I checked the time on his digital watch. "Eleven a.m."

Austin let go of my waist, but kept his hand in mine as we walked down the corridor. "What have you been doing all day?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Not much. Made some new arch nemeses, so… like any other day." I gave him a wry smile. He chuckled.

"Where are you headed?" he said. I took a deep breath.

"I…" an idea hatched in my mind. I smiled up at him. "Follow me." I sped up and directed my route towards the twisting staircase, pulling him behind me.

We walked up the stairs to the fifth floor, down the main hallway, and turned into the last doorway on the left. I pushed open the heavy, rotted wood door, and stepped into my classroom. I smiled at the familiar scene of the dusty fifties styled desks and chairs. The old blackboard still had its last lesson on it; how to divide derivatives.

I looked back at Austin behind me. He was looking in awe around the room.

"I know it's not much, but," I shrugged. "It's sort of my sanctuary."

"Not much?" he repeated in disbelief. "This is amazing!"

I grinned, and tugged his hand to follow me again. I led him to the wall of grimy windows, and out the one missing pane, onto the balcony. The second we stand on the balcony, I hear the breath being sucked from his lungs. Truth be told, my breath was a little out of my reach, too.

"I found this place when I was twelve." I told him. I sat down on the concrete, and patted the space beside me. He sat down close to me and slung his arm over my shoulder. "I came here on my parent's anniversary. Then again on Tom's birthday. Then I started to come whenever I was sad or missing my family. Somewhere along the road, this became my private hang out."

"It's beautiful." He breathed, his voice sounding so wistful.

I smiled at the familiar view of the conifers. "Yeah." I looked up at him. "You know, you're the first person I've ever shown this place."

At that point, he ripped his gaze from the view spanning below us to me. "Really?" I nodded. "You've really only shown this place to li'l ol' me?" he put on his best southern belle accent on the last words. I giggled and leaned my head against him.

"Of course." I whispered. "You're the only person I trust enough."

Ω

The rest of the weekend didn't seem so bad after that morning. Sure, I didn't see Bree or Jenna or any of my other previous friends, but that was okay. Austin said something to me on that Saturday that seemed to make more sense of my situation. "_If they can't trust you enough to accept what you like – namely me –"_ he smirked at that. "_Then they don't deserve to be your friend._"

I stayed in my room and studied for my English final on Monday. This was really just practicing writing essays and rereading The Great Gatsby. Quite boring, but sadly necessary if I wanted to maintain my 4.0 GPA.

This is why I walked into the English classroom at 8 a.m. on Monday morning with my nose buried in my worn paperback book. As I walked to my designated seat, I accidentally bumped into a solid object. I looked up from my book sheepishly to see Bree glaring at me, her eyes full of spite. I felt a blush creep up my neck.

"S-sorry." I muttered.

She scowled. "Get out of my face, Unnecessary." She spat. I was appalled at how spiteful she was being to me, even though not seventy-two hours previous, I had been her best friend.

I nodded and walked on. As I walked past her, she stuck her foot out and tripped me. I tumbled to the ground, my book falling across the classroom. She laughed heartily and moved on to her desk, leaving me on the ground, possibly on the brink of tears. I scowled at her back and pushed myself off the ground. I picked up my book and sat down at the nearest desk; my legs felt like they were about to give way from under me.

I pulled out a pen and trained my eyes on the blackboard. Truant's messy writing filled the centre of the board, reminding us our exam would be two and a half hours long. Kill. Me. Now.

"Alright, now shut up." Truant barked from the front of the class. The mutters around the room die out in a matter of seconds; it's no secret not to mess with Truant when it comes to exams. "Good. Your exam will be two and a half hours –" a wave of groans circled the room, cutting her off. She narrowed her eyes at us. "And your essay must be a minimum of five pages. Once you get yours, you may begin."

She took a large, very intimidating stack of papers from her desk, and began moving through the rows of desks, passing the packages out. As she moved past me, she dropped one on my desk. I twisted it around and read the question. Only four words.

"_What is a hero?_"

I pressed the tip of my pen to the top line. I tried to think of what to write. I knew what a hero was; it was a man in stretchy spandex tights and a cape that helped people and got totally rich and famous for it. But something in me told me not to write that – she'd probably laugh at my essay and fail me in the course.

Suddenly, hushed laughter reached my ears. I looked a bit to my right to see Bree sitting a few seats away, surrounded by her friends. They were laughing and sniggering at god knew what. I didn't want to know. All I wanted to know when they were going to shut up. But on they went, giggling to themselves at some inside joke, just like we used to. It made my blood boil. I clutched my pen in my hand, tensing the muscles to keep it from shaking and getting ink all over the page.

I suddenly wished I was anywhere but here. I wished I was in my classroom, reading the derivatives lesson for the billionth time. I had that lesson memorized backwards and forwards, but every time I read it again, the familiarity would soothe me.

Most importantly, I wished I was with Austin. He would make them shut up, and tell me everything was going to be okay. He really was my hero.

And just like that, I knew what I had to write. I wrote whatever the hell I felt like. I wrote what needed to be written, I guess you'd say.

_It's hard to say what a hero really is. To every person, a hero is something different. To one person, it might be a muscular guy in spandex tights and a cape. To others, it might be the one who made them laugh when all they wanted to do was cry. _

_But if you were to ask me, I'd say a hero is kind, sweet, loyal, and the best person I've ever had the privilege of knowing. For me, a hero is any person who would never give up on someone they love. It's someone who wouldn't care about what hurt them, as long as the one they love is safe. Suffice to say; a hero is selfless. _

I paused for a second, my pen freezing in midair. Austin's face wouldn't leave my mind. He was permanently stuck there, frozen in all his half-smiling glory. Even if he was just a figment of my imagination right then, my heart still skipped a beat.

_A hero has the guts to stick around when things get tough. In fact, a hero smiles at the chance to stick around. A hero would laugh in the face of danger, and give it a big hug – so to speak, of course. _

_At least, my hero would. My hero is everything I would want him to be; selfless, strong, funny, sarcastic, loyal, gutsy, and someone I'll always want around. If you had a hero like me, you'd keep him around, too. _

Ω

I walked out of English, my brain fried, as it always is after an exam. I ran a hand through my hair out of habit. Kids walked past me, bumping into my shoulders as they did. Some of them stopped and apologized, but not many. Most of them sniggered and rolled their eyes at me. I didn't care about it, though. One face kept flashing in the backs of my eyelids every time I blinked. The face kept me walking through those hallways for the rest of the school year. That strong hand in mine supported me when someone spray painted male genitalia on my dorm door on the first day of grade eleven. Those calm hazel eyes kept me strong when I held my baby niece in my arms for the very first time during thanksgiving break that year. That ruffled blonde hair got me through the entirety of grade twelve without so much as a tear when my former best friend ignored me.

And those same lips kissed mine proudly when we threw our graduation caps in the air with the rest of our graduating class at the end of grade twelve.

And my heart skipped a beat every time, like it did on our very first date when we were sixteen.

Ω

The summer after graduation, I'm eighteen. Austin and I are both back in Miami for good; far away from the hellhole of Anubis Boarding School.

One night, I'm in the practice room, sitting at the piano bench in my penguin jammies, like I used to when I was sixteen. I scribble randomness into my battered songbook. I find myself drawing little hearts around the words '_Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you._' My odd bliss is interrupted by a singsong voice that makes my stomach drop out from under me in a good way.

"Ally, Ally, Allyson!" the voice floats into the room from the window. I smile to myself and walk over to the window, pushing it all the way open. There on the lawn behind the Sonic Boom, is Austin, leaning against a large, bulking object I can't see very well in the moonlight. "Come down here!" he calls.

I consider taking the stairs, but instead grab hold of the window frame and hoist myself out of the window, like I used to when I was seventeen and Tom wouldn't let me see him past nine o'clock. I slowly climb down the ivy grating on the side of the building. Once my bare feet touch the grass, I waste no time running across the yard into Austin's waiting embrace. I breathe in his scent, smiling at that mixed with the sensation of my fluttering heart.

After a second, I pull away and look to what he is leaning against. It's a replica of the TARDIS from Dr. Who. I let out a tinkling laugh and look at Austin.

"What is this?" I ask. He surveys the TARDIS beside him.

"You remember the first time you ever brought me up to the practice room?"

"Of course. It was our first date, and we watched Dr. Who and Pokémon until like two a.m. Why?" I ask.

"Well," he starts. "I wanted to do this is a memorable way, but whenever I thought about our memories together, that night just kept coming up. So I went with it." I wonder what he is talking about.

He reaches into his dark jeans pocket and pulls something out – something I recognize as a plastic Pokeball. He grins wildly at me and kneels down on one knee. I immediately know what's going on.

I'd be lying if I said I'd never thought about this moment, but now that it's here, I'm stunned.

Austin opens the Pokeball, and in it is a ring. "Allyson Dawson. I choose you." He smiles goofily. I'm speechless. I really don't know what to do, except… I tackle him onto the wet grass with my arms around him in a tight hug. "I choose you, too, Austin Moon." I say into his ear. His arms snake around me, making Goosebumps rise all over my body – and not just from the cold. He turns me over so I lay underneath him, watching his eyes twinkle brighter than the stars above.

"How did you find a TARDIS?" I ask.

"Rockstars know people." He shrugs. "You know, everybody wants to be us."

"Yes, you play two New Year's Eves in Time's Square in a row, and suddenly you're Elvis." I tease. He doesn't say anything; just cups my face in his hand.

"I love you, Ally." He murmurs.

"I love you more, Austin." I say back.

"Not possible." He shakes his head and lowers himself down until his lips are just millimetres from mine, teasing me. His lips just brush against mine for a second before he winks at me and lets go of my face. He looks around in the grass until he snatches the fallen Pokeball up from the grass. He takes out the ring, and I sit up and hold out my left hand for him. He slips the ring onto my ring finger. I curl my fingers around his, and smile down at our hands.

The ring glints white gold in the moonlight. You know, rings are supposed to symbolize eternity and forever. But right now, I can't help but think how inappropriate that is. Even if the end of forever comes, I'd still love him.

"_The day I first met you, you told me you'd never fall in love._" He sings under his breath. He leans back in the grass beside me, his arm behind his head.

"_But now that I get you, you told me you'd never fall in love._" I sing back. I lean back and huddle beside him. His arm goes around me, hugging me closer. We stay quiet after that, just watching the stars. I think about all the times we've been in this exact position, watching the stars. Stars are a better measure of how much I love the man lying next to me. There are an infinite number of stars in the universe, and not enough time in the world to count them all.

Ω

"So that's how I got here." I say to the two tombstones in the grass in front of me once I've finished my mad diary-type story of the past four years of my life. I'm sitting cross legged in the grass of the cemetery, cradling a small baby in my arms. I look down at her. She blinks up at me with her dark brown anime eyes. "That's how I got Bethany and Austin." I take a deep breath. "The past eleven years haven't been easy, you guys. Mom, you used to always say there was no '_chance_' in the equation; that everything to ever happen was set in stone. I used to scream at your memory after you died. I'd say that that was absurd, because if '_chance_' wasn't there, then why were you two dead? But it makes sense now. If you two were still alive, I would have never had to suffer through Anubis, and I would have never met Austin. I would have never had a daughter…"

I hear the wrought iron gates creak open behind me. I turn to see Austin standing at the gates, smiling at me. "You coming?" he calls across the silent graveyard.

"Just a sec." I call back. I stand up and smile at the tombstones. "Tom and Sarah are good. So is their daughter. I don't know if Tom told you, but they named her Katelyn." I chuckle a bit at that. "Thank you."

I turn around and walk across the grass to the gates, where my husband waits for me.

"Ready?" he asks. I glance behind me to the tombstones scattered all around the graveyard. I know Arialla, mom, and dad are all buried here. This won't be the last time we're here. It never will be. I turn back to him and nod. He wraps an arm around my shoulder, and we walk side by side through the forest, just like we did when we were sixteen and freshly in love.

The only difference now is we have Bethany Jocelyn Moon.

* * *

**So there. PTI is... done... I wish it weren't but it had to be over. I'll miss you all. Thank you for putting up with me, and thank you for all the reviews and encouragement. It will be weird to stop getting alerts for PTI. Also, with Tom and Sarah's daughter, if you remember, Ally's mom's name was Katelyn, so... As well, Bethany's middle name was Austin's sister's middle name (Arialla Jocelyn Moon). I know, I went a little Harry Potter with it, but it just seemed right. The lyrics Ally is writing when she is eighteen are from Bruno Mars' "Marry You" (I was listening to the R5 cover while I was writing it). And I know Ally's essay wasn't five pages, but like hell I'm going to write five pages just for you guys!**

**Anyways, thank you guys. Keep on reading, and I'll miss you all. **

**-KR Blake Ω**


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